A Saint's Crucible
by jake111
Summary: Stillwater, a glitzy metropolis that hides the fact that it is being torn apart at the seams. A young runaway living off the grid finds herself drawn into fray after a chance encounter. Soon she finds herself being pushed to her limit by the struggle for Stillwater. Will she be able to stand the pressure, or will she be chewed up and spit out like so many others.
1. Awkward Introductions

A girl walked down the sidewalk, it was a cold cloudy October night with the only light coming from the streetlights under which the prostitutes gathered and the barrel fires that the homeless crowded around. The girl gave a small shiver and wrapped one of her arms around herself tightly. She was a small pale girl, only four feet and seven inches, with a thin frame and a flat chest. She wore thick glasses hidden behind the strands of her mousy brown hair that fell in front of her face. She wore a dark blue sweater under a black jacket and faded skinny jeans with a pair of grey and silver tennis shoes, one of her arms hung by her side holding a twelve pack of Dr. Pepper.

"Watches! I've got watches here! Yo! Hey doll, this shit'd cost you six hundred dollars in the store!" A black man in a dirty brown coat and ratty jeans holding a suitcase full of what had to be fake Rolexes yelled at her from a door step.

"Umm, no thank you sir" the girl answered in a small voice while keeping her head down.

"Aw… Whatever watches!" The girl kept walking and the man went back to hawking his wears.

The girl kept walking and passed a prostitute in a yellow sports bra and scandalously tight yellow track hot pants, a second after she passed the prostitute, she jumped as she felt two hard smacks sting her bottom.

"Eeeep" the girl yelped, nearly dropped the case of Dr. Pepper in her hand, and looked back at the prostitute, who gave her a predatory grin.

"Little girls who stay out too late need a spanking, come here baby and momma will give you one on the house." The girl kept her head down, gripped her jacket harder, and walked a little faster away from the prostitute.

"Hey honey, isn't it past your bedtime?" A tall black haired African American woman in a tight purple tube top, a short purple leather skirt, and a mischievous smirk stepped out in front of her with her hands on her hips.

"n-n-no, please excuse m-me m-miss" the girl stammered out and moved to walk past the woman when a hand shot out in front of her, stopping the girl dead in her tracks. The girl looked up at the prostitute to see the mischievous smirk turn into a look of genuine concern.

"Honey, I'm serious, a girl like you shouldn't be out this late, it's dangerous. There are a lot of people out right now that you do not want to run into at night." The woman looked down at the small girl and thought, poor thing, she wouldn't last a minute if she ran into some Vice Kings or Rollers.

"I-I'm fine, I live just a few blocks d-down." The girl twisted a strand of her hair and kept her eyes fixed firmly on the woman's shockingly high purple heels.

"Where do you live sweetie, I'll walk you." The woman spoke in a warm, but firm voice.

"O-oh no, th-that's not necessar.." the girl looked up and shrank back, the look on the woman's face told her it wasn't an offer that she could refuse.

"Fuck you think you're doin'?" a yell came from down the street where a group of men in yellow and blue were arguing.

The girl and the woman stared at the gangs arguing for a minute until one of the men in blue struck one of the men in yellow with a base ball bat.

"Come on sweetie; let's get you out of here, you don't need to be around this." The woman grabbed her by the shoulders and began to turn her around, and as the girl saw one of the men in blue fall collapse next to her as he ran, she no longer felt like arguing with the prostitute and allowed the prostitute to begin guiding her in the opposite direction of the gang fight. Then three men in a red car with no roof pulled up to the curb.

"Hector says buenos noches" the man in the back of the car stood up holding a Kalashnikov assault rifle and the man in the passenger seat pointed a submachine gun at the men in yellow and blue, then they both opened fire.

"Move, now" the girl dropped her twelve pack as the prostitute began pushing her across the street as the men in yellow and the men in blue began to return fire. She heard a yell and turned to see the man in the dirty brown coat grab the prostitute in yellow, for a split second she wondered if he was trying to rape her, then she realized that the man was using the yellow whore as a human shield. Two seconds later she heard the prostitute in yellow scream again and out of the corner of her eye, the girl saw two of the missed shots had caught her in the stomach and chest.

"God damn it Shaniqua" the girl heard the woman mutter under her breath as she shepherded the girl across the street. This was when the fear hit her, the girl began hyperventilating and nearly stumbled, but the woman caught her and held her tighter, abandoning the hold that she had held on the girl's shoulders to wrap one arm entirely around the girl's small frame and drew her closer.

When they were across the street the headlights of the car heralded it coming up the road, and the girl heard the rattle of another assault rifle behind her, the woman took off at a dead sprint, dragging the girl along with her, and for a second one insane thought entered the girl's head, how the hell can she run so fast in those heels.

"Get down" the woman screamed and pushed the girl forward and dove forward.

The girl landed hard on the concrete and the air was knocked out of her, her sweater and jacket only slightly cushioning the impact, her glasses flew off her face and landed somewhere that she couldn't see.

The girl rolled over and propped herself up on one of her elbows. She looked around and couldn't see the prostitute who had been helping her. She looked up and saw the flaming wreckage of the red car and one of the men in blue walking up holding some kind of assault rifle, she couldn't tell much, everything was blurry without her glasses.

The man in blue laid out a few rounds into one of the men in red that was crawling out of the wreckage. The girl saw a black man in a yellow shirt and white tank top walk up behind the man in blue with a pistol and put a bullet in the man's head. The man then walked over to her and aimed the gun directly at her face.

"Wrong time, wrong place dawg" the man said. The girl looked around for a second, wondering if there was any way she could run, she looked at the man wondering if she could knock him down, she realized that she only had one shot.

"Gyaaaah" The girl closed her eyes and dove at the man's legs; she felt the man go down and heard a pistol shot, to her surprise when she opened her eyes, she was neither wounded nor dead.

"You okay Playa" The girl looked up and saw a black man wearing a leather jacket over a purple shirt and a black beret.

"Julius, let's move" a man in a purple shirt with a pistol stood behind the black man.

"Come on Playa" the black man, Julius, offered his hand to the girl and helped her up.

"Agh! m-my leg" the second the girl put weight on her right leg, a sharp lancing pain shot through her leg from her ankle.

"I gotcha Playa" Julius wrapped an arm around her to help her keep weight off of her foot as they began moving out of the parking lot.

"T-there was a woman with me, a prostitute, purple tube top, s-short purple s-skirt, s-sound familiar?" The girl looked around and saw the black man who had aimed at her, blood was flowing out of the large hole in the man's head.

"Julius, weren't Shaniqua and Kallika working the corners tonight?" The guy in the purple shirt looked back at them as he spoke, without her glasses she could not get that good a look at him, but now she could make out that he had brown, obviously gelled, hair and a mustache goatee.

"Aww, nice of you to worry bout me Troy boy, but I'm fine, concussed, but fine, Shaniqua didn't make it though." The woman, Kallika, who had tried to get her out of the gang fight was walking up behind them, she had some road rash on her stomach and had her heels in one hand, but she seemed relatively unharmed. As they moved down the street an explosion came from behind them as the red car ended it's death throes.

They went down the street until they were a block away from the carnage, then Julius set her down on a quiet corner under the dim glow of a street light.

"That don't look so bad, just a minor sprain, you should be fine" Julius examined her leg.

"T-thank y-y-you" she said meekly, the fear was catching up to her again and she felt an asthma attack coming on.

"That's Troy, you can thank him later." Julius gestured at the guy in the purple shirt. He gave her a nod.

"And it sounds like you know Kallika" Julius gestured at the woman.

"Sup kiddo, oh yeah by the way, these landed near me, figured they were yours" Kallika produced an item from that had been tucked in her cleavage, when she handed them to her, the girl realized they were her glasses.

"T-th-thank y-you" the girl brushed her hair out of her face, revealing a pale face with thin lips and high cheekbones, her glasses magnified her stormy grey eyes. She fumbled through the pockets of her jackets to pull out her inhaler, she brought it up to her face and pushed down on the top just as the attack was really hitting, as she breathed in the medicine she felt her throat loosen.

"What's your name Playa?" Julius watched as she tucked the inhaler back in her jacket.

"O-o-oh, uh my name, E-E-Emma, Emma W-White" as she spoke, Emma hoped her stutter would hide her lies. She pulled her wallet out and flipped it open to show her I.D.

"Ok Emma White, what's your real name?" Julius's face remained the image of calm as a he called her on her lies.

"W-w-what, I'm n-not, uh, f-f-f-fine, A-Amelia E-El-Elizabeth A-Alexander" Amelia looked down and tucked her wallet back into her jacket.

"Good, listen Amelia, the Row ain't safe no more. We got gangs fightin' over shit that ain't theirs, and you in the way. They don't care if you representin' or not." Amelia had to admit, Julius was impressive, he managed to make ghetto Ebonics sound elegant.

"Julius, this is no time to recruit" Troy appeared to be in a hurry to get further away from the scene of the gang fight.

"Plus, the poor thing wouldn't last a minute in a fire fight" Kallika looked over at Amelia.

"No offense sweetie."

"N-none taken"

"We need all the help we can get people." Julius turned to Troy and Kallika as he spoke.

"No we need to get our asses out of here" as if to punctuate his sentence the sound of sirens began to echo in the distance.

"In a minute" Julius turned back to Amelia, "look the Row's got a problem" Julius stood up and looked down on her.

"Come to the church when you want to be a part of the solution"

"Come on Amy, I'll walk you home, where do you live honey?" Kallika wrapped an arm around Amelia and helped her up as Julius and Troy walked off.

"Oh, it's an apartment building just a few blocks down, I can make it on my own if you want to get going." Amelia said, though how heavily she was leaning into Kallika implied otherwise. Even without her heels on, Kallika was about a foot and a half taller than her, leaving her at about eye level with Kallika's breasts.

"Sweetie, with all that's happened, you'll be lucky if I don't put you to bed and tuck you in myself." Amelia's head was lolling to the side fell right into the niche between Kallika's arm and shoulder. Amelia let out a small giggle.

"Hm hm, I am tired, like fucking exhausted, and weirdly happy." Amelia let out a loud yawn and unconsciously wrapped her arms around Kallika.

"First gang war?" Kallika kept a close eye on Amelia to make sure she didn't trip, the girl seemed like she was about to collapse.

"That obvious huh?"

"A bit, your tired because your adrenalin has been pumping for a while and now you want to curl up into a ball and sleep for a week, but you're also feeling the yay I'm still alive rush of dopamine, which is why you feel so happy and don't have too many inhibitions right now."

"Wow, you are really smart for a…' Amelia caught herself before she accidentally insulted Kallika.

"What, I'm really smart for a whore, prostitute, slut. Don't worry kiddo, I know what I am, and as for the smarts, while I didn't sleep my way to the top of my classes in S.U. well, not in most of them any way." History had not been a good subject for Kallika, the professor on the other hand had been a very good subject for her.

"Sssooo wait, if you went to college, why do you do the whole, gangbanger, prostitute, thing?" Amelia felt like she should shut up, but for some reason she just kept babbling.

"It's a long story kiddo; stick around long enough and maybe you'll hear it." Kallika ruffled Amelia's hair and looked down to see Amelia's face resting on her breast with her eyes down to slits, the girl was barely awake. The rest of the walk passed in silence until they reached an old rundown brick apartment building.

"Oh yeah, here it is, my place is on the top floor, you can come in if you want." Amelia let go of Kallika and started up the stairs to the building.

"I think I'll walk you up, considering you were basically sleepwalking for most of the walk to your place, you're just as likely to fall down the stairs." Kallika planted a firm hand on the small of Amelia's back and followed her up the stairs to the top floor.

Amelia fumbled through her jacket for her keys and unlocked the door. Kallika followed her in and was mildly impressed by what she saw, the loft was small, but very clean with hard wood flooring, a small kitchen that was over to one side, a living area with a small couch set up in front of a fairly large flat screen televeision and a stereo system, a door near the kitchen she assumed was a bathroom, and what really drew her eye was the desktop set up in front of one of the windows, it was an obviously high tech computer with three flat screens set up in front of a key board, underneath the desk was a slim tower server.

"Nice place for a runaway" Kallika said as Amelia slipped behind a privacy screen in the bedroom area, a small part of the apartment, with a wardrobe, a vanity, and to Kallika's amusement, a white queen sized canopy bed with a realistic giant stuffed octopus sitting in the middle of the pillows.

"There's no use denying it is there?" Amelia tossed off her jacket and sweater before unsnapping her bra, a plain dark blue one, and kicked off her shoes.

"Not really, how old are you hon?" Kallika said as she inspected the computer, it was certainly top of the line, she wondered how Amelia could afford any of the things she had.

"U-um seventeen" Amelia's stutter returned as she tried once again to lie, her instincts driving through her exhaustion.

"Huh-uh sweetie, try again."

"Sixteen" Amelia said as she pulled off her panties, to her immediate shame she noticed that she had wet herself during the fray, she tossed the white underwear in the hamper and grabbed the white double XL tee shirt that she used as a night gown.

"Hmmmmm" Kallika crossed her arms and gave a stare that could be felt even behind the screen.

"in seven months" Amelia admitted resignedly, she looked at her underwear drawer and debated whether or not to put on a pair of boy shorts, she usually just wore the tee shirt to bed, and since she figured that Kallika would leave soon she decided not to.

"There we go sweetie, so how long have you been on your own?" Kallika watched as Amelia emerged from behind the privacy screen, the tee she was wearing hung on her like a drape, making her look even younger than she already did, and looking like that Amelia could pass for a nine year old.

"Can we save the questions for later, like tomorrow at the church or something, I reeeaaaly want to get some sleep." As if to emphasize her statement, Amelia let out a loud yawn.

"Wait a minute, the church, Amy, are you sure that you want to do that. Joining the Saints is a big deal, just getting in is hard enough." Kallika thought of her own canonization when she joined. The idea of a girl like Amy getting the shit kicked out of her did not appeal to her.

"D-don't worry about it, I'm just going to listen to Julius, a-and i-if I l-like what t-then I'll go f-from t-there." Amelia felt her stutter return, she wasn't used to people showing much concern for her and Kallika worrying about her made her feel… strange.

"Ok, how about this, I'll pick you up around ten tomorrow morning; you can ride with me to the church. Just make sure you know what you're getting into" Kallika started to turn and leave, but paused a second before turning around an enveloping Amelia in a hug. Amelia just stood there for a second, stunned, then she returned the embrace.

"I'm really glad that I met you tonight Kallika"

"You too Kiddo" she pulled away and headed for the door "night Amy".

"night Kallika, see you tomorrow" Amelia watched her walk out and stumbled over to her bed.

She was out the second her head hit the pillows.

**Ok guys, this is a small little side project, I started. I hope you enjoy, and please remember to review.**

**Big thanks to River NightRunner for her help on this.**


	2. Welcome to the Saints

Amelia woke up slowly, bleary eyes blinking away the sleep. She rolled over and looked at her alarm clock, it was nine seventeen. Amelia noticed she was clutching her stuffed octopus; the nightmares had been particularly nasty that night. She tended to naturally cling to something when she had bad dreams and she had found that stuffed animals sometimes helped deal with the nightmares. Finally she let go of her octopus and mustered up the strength to push back the covers and get out of bed. Amelia put on her slippers and stood up; she then walked over to her vanity and took a look at herself in the mirror. It was then that she noticed that her octopus had a tentacle caught in her shirt and was hanging off of her.

"This is one wrong move away from turning into a hentai scene." Amelia started giggling as she tossed the stuffed cephalopod back onto her bed. She stopped when she turned back to the vanity.

"I'm fifteen and I look like I still need someone to hold my hand when I cross the street, ugh." Amelia stared into the mirror; she did not like what she saw. She saw a small girl with a flat chest and no hips to speak of. The oversized tee shirt that she had bought because she had seen dozens of actresses look smoking hot in movies while wearing similar outfits, in her eyes only made her look more like a little girl in the shirt of some older sibling.

"Why the fuck can't I grow up!" Amelia screamed at her reflection. She drew back her fist to slam it into the mirror, but stopped herself, she had already broken two mirrors that month the same way. Amelia dropped her arm to her side and stomped off to the bathroom. She tossed her tee on the floor and grabbed herself a towel from under the sink.

Her bathroom was a small rectangular room painted a pale blue with a sink embedded in the counter, a toilet, and a shower bathtub combo. She set the towel on the toilet and climbed in, turning the knob and letting the water flow over her as she let the events of the night before roll through her head.

She thought about that kid who had almost killed her, looking back she thought that he could not have been much older than her, eighteen at most. She thought about the image of him on the ground with a gaping hole in his head. As she replayed the night in her head, she realized that none of the people she had seen fighting could have been older than twenty. The image of that kid in blue raking the kid crawling out of the car came to the front of her mind as she ran her soapy hands through her hair.

"Do I really want to get involved in this?" Amelia said as she turned the water temperature up and sat down in the tub.

"I could die" She muttered as she drew her legs up to her chest.

"But am I really living right now, running, hiding, keeping my head down and hoping that I don't draw attention." Tears began to form around her eyes before she rubbed them away. She thought about Julius and Troy, she owed them her life. She thought about Kallika, bueatiful, strong, confident, and smart. She was everything Amelia wanted to be.

"That's it, I am going to do this, no matter what I have to do" Amelia reached for the knob and turned off the water. Amelia climbed out of the shower, wrapped a towel around herself, and brushed her teeth before heading out of the bathroom.

"Fifteen and I still wear a child's size twelve and a training bra." She finished toweling off and dropped the towel in her hamper before walking naked over to her wardrobe, opening the bottom drawer and grabbing a pair of pink panties with small flowers covering the front and a purple bra. Then she grabbed her glasses off of her bed where they had fallen off while she had slept and slipped them on.

Amelia sat down on the stool in front of her vanity in her underwear. She looked at the clock, it was nine thirty five. Amelia opened the top drawer of the vanity and pulled out a brush. She looked at her hair, it hung in wet clumps around her head, and began to brush it out. She decided to hurry and do it quickly. After about a minute of brushing, the brush got stuck. She tugged down on it and only succeeded in pulling her hair.

"Goddamnit"

….

Kallika climbed up the stairs to Amelia's loft. She knew that she was about twenty minutes early, but she didn't think Amelia would mind. She was just about to knock on Amelia's door when she heard a yell from inside.

"Goddamnit"

Kallika immediately opened the door while reaching behind her to grab the pistol she kept in the waistband of her jeans. What she saw almost made her crack up laughing, Amelia was sitting in front of her vanity in a purple bra and pink panties, pulling on a hairbrush stuck in her hair. Amelia heard the door open and turned around to see Kallika in a pair of skinny jeans, a dark purple camisole, and light purple cross trainers standing there with one arm behind her back and a barely suppressed smile on her face.

"Oh, uh, h-hey Kallika, y-you're e-early" Amelia's face turned as pink as her panties. This is so humiliating, she thought as she kept tugging at the brush.

"Hey, need some help, 'Melia?" Kallika said with a hand on her hip and let an amused smile cross her face and started walking towards Amelia.

"N-no, I g-g-got t-this" Amelia gave the hair brush a strong yank, accomplishing nothing more than causing herself a great deal of pain.

"You're going to pull your hair out, here Baby Girl, I got it." Kallika grabbed her by the shoulder and turned back to face the mirror.

"You just make it worse when you tug it; you have to do it gently." Kallika slid her index finger under the hair caught in the brush and wiggled it around to loosen the hair, then slowly pulled the hair away a few strands at a time. Then she just plucked the hairbrush from where it had been stuck and started brushing out Amelia's hair.

Amelia didn't protest, on one hand she felt a little she felt a little embarrassed at the intimacy of Kallika was brushing out her hair, on the other hand it made her feel strangely happy to have Kallika doting on her like that.

"You should get you're hair streaked Amelia, you're hair is great, but some color would make you stand out more." Kallika said as she ran the brush through Amelia's pale brown hair. She thought about when she used to do this with her… no, she thought as she shook the thought out of her mind.

"I don't know, I never thought about it really. I'm not really the outgoing type." Amelia said. That's an understatement, she thought. Amelia designed her whole look on not being noticed, fading into the background was how she survived.

"And you have such a nice face with those big chocolate brown eyes of yours and that fair skin, we could put you're hair in a ponytail to help show it off." Kallika set down the hair brush on the vanity and gathered Amelia's hair back.

"I guess, I d-don't r-really change m-my look t-that often Kallika." Amelia wasn't sure about changing her hairstyle, but she decided that Kallika knew better about those things than she did.

"And there we go, you look absolutely gorgeous, and call me Kallie, sweetie. All of my friends do." Kallie said as she stepped back from Amelia as she finished putting her hair into a tight ponytail..

Amelia looked in the mirror and for the first time in a long time liked what she saw. She thought that the ponytail made her look a bit older and more professional. Her skin, which she had always considered sickly pale, took on a more porcelain appearance with some light on it. Her glasses, which she thought were massive and nerdy, magnified her eyes magnified her eyes when unobstructed, making them look larger and giving her a cute anime look.

"Wow, I look… awesome"

"Of course you do sweetie, now get dressed, we need to get to the church." Kallie said with a smile."

"Oh, yeah" Amelia had been so focused on her hair issues that she had forgotten she was in her underwear. She darted over to her wardrobe and grabbed a pair of jeans, a pair of pink socks, and a grey sweater from the top drawer.

"Oh and one other thing 'melia, do you have anything to wear that's purple?" Kallie said as Amelia put on her jeans.

"Ummm, no, not other than my bra" Amelia said as she pulled the sweater over her head. She pulled on her socks and laced up her tennis shoes.

"That's fine; I've got something in the car that you can wear, ready?" Amelia nodded and followed as Kallie walked out of the door. She closed the door and locked it as she left.

Amelia followed Kallie down the stairs and out the door into the cool Autumn air. Kallie hopped the door into her car, a purple Zomkah with a cream colored leather interior.

"Nice car" Amelia attempted to imitate Kallie by hopping over the door, but her foot caught on the door handle and she ended up sprawling across the front seat with her face landing directly in Kallie's lap.

"Ooooooh, I'm s-so s-sorry" Amelia looked up at Kallie, her face turning pink in embarrassment.

"Honey, I'm not one to turn down a girl wanting to go down on me, but I don't think of you like that" Kallie held back giggles as she looked at the girl who was now scrambling up into the passenger seat.

"W-what, I w-wasn't, I mean, n-n-no I-I d-don't…" Kallie laughed at the girl's awkwardness.

"Relax Baby Girl, I was only teasing you." She offered the girl a reassuring smile and ruffled her hair as she turned the ignition.

"I-I'm sorry, I'm n-not used to b-being a-around people." Amelia let out a sigh of relief as she put on her seat belt and tried to compose herself.

"Don't worry about it, I understand, mind answering some questions for me though honey?" Kallie pressed a button, the top unfolded into place and the windows rolled up.

"I figured you'd have questions, how about this for as long as it takes us to get to the church, I'll answer any question you ask me, and you answer any I ask, deal" Amelia asked in a small voice. She knew she would probably answer any of her questions anyway, but she hoped she could find out more about Kallie.

"Deal, I'll go first, how long have you been on your own?" Kallie said while she put the car into drive and pulled away from the curb. It seemed like a good way to help get Amelia out of her shell.

"Three years and two months, how long have you been with the saints?"

"Two years, how do you support yourself, no offense honey, but you're loft and your clothes are way too nice for a fifteen year old runaway." Kallie reached for her sunglasses that hung on the rearview mirror slid them on her face.

"Oh, well yeah, I guess they are. Soon after I ran away, I wiped myself from every system that I could find, and then I set up a fake identity for myself and a few fake people to serve as my guardians on paper. I do online consulting with a California based software design firm. As far as they know, they do business with a brilliant twenty four year old woman named Elizabeth White, whose skill justifies her seven hundred thousand dollar a year salary eccentricities, such as the fact that she does no on site consultation. As far as the government and most people know, I'm Emma White, the adopted daughter of Elizabeth White and her lover, Lynn Wong." Amelia leaned back in her seat with a small smile on her face, she was fairly proud of herself for that.

"Wait, why did you make them lesbians?" They stopped at an intersection and Kallie looked at her with a quizzical expression.

"Gay marriage is still illegal in this state, so it saved me having to set up a fake marriage history, license, photo shopped pictures, etcetera. The personas that I set up have social security numbers, perfect credit scores, tax records, fake credentials, the whole nine yards. I keep most of the money in the accounts of my 'parents' and a little over five thousand in my account. If anyone looks at my identity closely, they'll see that I'm homeschooled, I was adopted when I was eleven, if they backtrack they'll find a foster home that burned down last year, no survivors, all records were destroyed. If anyone asks me where my parents are, I tell them that my parents are usually away on business." Amelia blushed; she wasn't used to being this open with people.

"So what did you go to college for" Amelia said changing the topic back away from her.

"I have an MBA and a Bachelor of Arts degree in psychology, where did you learn about computers." Kallie noticed that this question made Amelia squirm a little and figured that she would have to tread lightly.

"M-my d-d-dad t-t-taught m-me" Amelia stammered out. Her stutter was far worse than usual. The church loomed before them and she was thankful for it. She didn't want to answer any more questions about her dad.

"Here we are, not much to look at, but it works." They pulled into the church parking lot and Kallie put the top down and hopped out. Amelia, for her part, was smarter this time and simply opened the door and got out. There were several people in purple gathered in the cemetery.

"Oh, I almost forgot, here 'Melia, put this on." Kallie grabbed a black jacket and a black purse out of the backseat. She pulled a purple silk scarf out of the purse and handed it to Amelia, then she slipped on the jacket.

Amelia wrapped the scarf around her neck and followed Kallie into the cemetery. They walked in and stood in the middle of the crowd. Amelia looked around and saw what the purple scarf had been for, there wasn't a person there who wasn't sporting at least one article of purple clothing. She noticed that there was a fair amount of variety among those gathered, Black, White, Asian, Hispanic, and the number of men and women was about equal.

Several women were coming up and chatting with Kallie. Amelia just stuck as close as she could to Kallie and tried to fade into the background, but Kallie always insisted on introducing the women to her. She managed a weak hello to each of them, one or two gave her weird looks, but most just gushed over how cute she was. Amelia blushed when they did that, she was unused to being the center of attention, but she also kind of liked it. Everyone went quiet when Julius came out.

"Every muthafucka knows what we need to do. Those bitches be ridin' around thinkin' they own these streets. I don't care what flags they're flyin'… Rollerz, Carnales, Vice Kings… no one's makin' this nigga scared to walk the Row. We 'bout to lock this shit down… right now." There was a resounding cheer of approval. Amelia found herself joining in, caught up in the flow of the crowd and Julius's passion. The man was a hell of a public speaker, Amelia had to say that about him.

"Who the fuck's this kid?" An Asian man in his mid twenties with black hair frosted white and glasses looked at her and gestured toward her. Amelia shrank back behind Kallie a little more.

"Troy, Kallika, and I found her, I was gonna see if she'd ride with us." Julius responded casually. Kallie was giving the Asian a look that could kill.

"I didn't realize we were recruiting from playgrounds now, no offense Princess." The man threw another look her way. Amelia knew they were all looking at her, so she drew up every ounce of courage she could and stepped forward into the middle of the circle of open space now forming around her.

"None taken, I'm fifteen, nice frost by the way, Olivia at Shear Image do it for you?" Amelia forced a cocky grin onto her face as several of the people around her erupted in laughter. Please don't let me stutter, she thought.

"Kitten's got some claws, eh. What you going to do? Scratch my nose?" The man took her barb with a calm, easy, confidence. Then he turned back to Julius.

"Julius, if she wants to run with the Saints, she's gotta be canonized." Everyone around the man nodded.

"He's right, Julius. Everyone had to do it." Troy spoke up for the first time from his place next to Julius.

Julius looked at him, and then looked back at Amelia.

"You ready for this, Playa?"

Just as Amelia was about to ask what exactly canonization was when several of the people around her took on fighting stances. She realized what was going to happen and shifted her right leg back and bent her knees a little, putting both of her feet at slight angle, then she put both of her hands up into a ready position. Several people around her groaned, they had seen that sort of thing before, people trying dumb shit that they saw in a movie.

"This is no different then when you're on the mat, just keep calm, let it flow, and don't try and over think it." Amelia muttered to herself, keeping her voice low so that no one would hear.

The rest of the saints formed a loose ring and a White man in a heavy purple jacket stepped forward. He charged at her, she took a breath, and when the man was just about within range she drew up her front leg and shot it out in one fluid motion, allowing herself to lean back as she did so to gain some extra power.

"Tia" She yelled as her sidekick connected with the man's stomach, forcing the air out of his lungs. He was sent staggering backwards, mouth open, gulping air like a fish. Amelia offered him no respite, she moved with him and drew another breath. The man tried to throw a haymaker at her, she sidestepped past him, dodging the punch, and drew her leg up again.

"Tia" She drove her heel straight into the side of the man's knee, the man screamed in pain and dropped down to clutch his injured leg. Amelia shifted her right foot forward and her left foot back. Then in one fluid motion she did a three sixty, put her feet together one hundred and eighty degrees into the turn, then drew her left knee up, and two hundred and seventy degrees in, she sent her right leg up in a wide arc, sending the side of her foot crashing down into the side of the man's skull. He dropped to the ground, out cold.

Everyone stared at her for a second, then her next two opponents came at her. An Asian woman in a purple crop top and a large Hispanic man in a purple tank top with several golden medallions around his neck.

The Asian woman came at her, slower than the first, more cautious after seeing what she had happened to the man. She threw a straight punch at Amelia's head, the Hispanic man sent a low punch at her at the same time. Amelia swatted the woman's punch to the side of her head with her left hand and pulled her forward with her right. She wrapped her arm around the woman's neck to form a choke. She used the woman as a shield in front of her and the man's punch caught the woman in the stomach. Amelia released the choke and pushed the woman forward. The woman was sent flailing into the Hispanic man, causing them both to topple to the ground. Amelia followed them and stomped on the woman's kidney. The woman let out a cry of pain as the Hispanic man pushed her off of him. She just lay there clutching her kidney, she was out of the fight.

The Hispanic man grabbed her before she could dodge. He lifted her up by her sweater and drew back his fist. Amelia grabbed his head and dug her thumbs into his eyes. He dropped her and she released her grip and grabbed his medallions as she dropped, pulling his head down as she sent a palm strike directly at the nerve point TW seventeen. The man was sent reeling back and collapsed in a heap, another knockout.

A large Black man surged up behind her and encased her in a bear hug, lifting her off of the ground as another skinny White man came at her. When the White man got close, she sent a hard kick forward, connecting with the man's jaw and sending him crashing down. Amelia then swung her foot back like a pendulum directly, the back of her foot slamming into the man's groin. The man grunted with pain, but held his grip. Amelia opened her mouth, and bit down on the man's forearm until she tasted blood. The man yowled in pain and released her. He stepped back, holding his bleeding arm close to his chest. He was so focused on his wounded arm that he didn't even get a block in when Amelia sent a running jump side kick straight to his chest, smashing the forearm he had been holding in the process. He was sent reeling back and ended up falling flat on his ass.

Amelia didn't manage to stick the landing and ended up falling on the grass next to a gravestone. She pushed herself into a kneeling position looking for her next attacker. She saw Troy walking over to her and scrambled to her feet, though she doubted she could take him. The fighting had left her exhausted and she knew that she wouldn't be able to take too many more. Troy held up his hand to signal that he wasn't going to fight. Amelia visibly relaxed, and spat out the blood that had gotten in her mouth when she had bit the man.

"You earned your colors today" Troy said as he shook her hand.

"That was some impressive shit; the only other saints that kicked ass like that were Johnny and Miguel." A Black kid in a denim jacket clapped a hand on her back. He looked like he was only a few years older than her.

"Shit, took me half the time" the Asian man, Johnny, leaned towards her as he spoke.

"Well, I'm half your size, so I think it evens out." Amelia looked up at Johnny and offered him her sweetest smile as she spoke. He laughed loudly and offered his own grin in return.

"You ok kiddo" Kallie asked as she wrapped her in a hug.

"Y-yeah Kallie, I'm fine, just a little exhausted." Amelia pulled out her inhaler and took a dose of the medicine, her breathing relaxed a bit

Amelia pulled away from the hug as Julius walked toward her.

Julius fist bumped her and her smile broadened at what he said.

"Welcome to the Third Street Saints."

"Let's get down to business. If we're serious about takin' back the Row, we gotta let those muthafuckas know what time it is. Now you break it down, and it's all about respect. Get enough of it, they're gonna back off, and we're gonna move right on in. We got some friends in town that could use some help. Give 'em a hand. 'Course, you can always drop any muthafucka flyin' the wrong flag. So long as word gets out that the Saints is on the Row, I don't give a damn how you do it. You feel me?" There were a few more cheers and the meeting was dismissed when Julius headed back inside the church. Troy walked up to where Amelia was standing with Kallie.

"Alright kid, time for you to buy a piece." Troy motioned for them to follow.

"Ok, where do I get a gun?" Amelia asked as they walked out of the cemetery.

"Friendly Fire, of course sweetheart" Kallie said as they crossed the street toward the gun store.

"Umm, they don't sell to minors. I tried getting a gun when I moved here." Amelia had tried buying a pistol online under the name of Catherine Graceford, but they wouldn't allow her to pick it up because she was a minor, so she had to cancel the order.

"That was before, now you're not a minor, you're a Saint." Troy held open the door for the ladies.

"Troy, Kallika, what can I do for you two today?" An attractive blonde woman in a black pantsuit greeted them. She was the same woman who hadn't let her pick up her gun the first time.

"Hey Juliet, we're looking to pick up our newest member's first gun." Troy leaned against the counter with a smile on his lips; even Amelia could tell there was something between those two.

"Of course, what can I get for you?" The woman, Juliet, was unbelievably perky for someone who worked in a gun store.

"Oh uh, I really don't know much a-about guns." Amelia cursed herself in her mind for letting her stutter slip out.

"Ok, how about an NR4, light recoil, good accuracy, match grade trigger to enhance the fire rate, add in the stopping power of a twelve round clip of forty five auto, and the slim design that makes it perfect for tucking in your purse or in your waistband, and you have the perfect piece for your first time." Juliet drew the pistol out of the display case and pointed out all of the gun's features, her voice taking a more husky tone as she outlined all the aspects of the weapon.

"Um, ok, I guess I'll take that one." Does this girl get off on guns or something, Amelia thought.

"Great, can I get you anything else?" Juliet's smile was far too big to be genuine.

"Well, I guess I could use some kind of, umm what do you call those things, they're like uzis or something." Amelia blushed slightly at her lack of knowledge.

"Submachine guns" Juliet's false smile never slipped from her face.

"Yes, one of those" Amelia said, her voice taking on that quiet, meek, tone that it always did when she was embarrassed.

"The SKR-7 Spree, fifty round clip, forty five ACP ammo, perfect for emptying a room in a hurry." Juliet laid the gun on the counter and leaned down, showing off her cleavage.

"Uhh, y-yeah, I'll t-take it." Amelia really wanted to get out of there; Juliet's antics were making her very uncomfortable. Then she noticed that Troy was standing behind her.

"That will be eleven hundred and fifty dollars please, and fifty dollars for four boxes of forty five ACP rounds."

"Ok, here you go" Amelia said as she withdrew twelve hundred dollar bills from her wallet. She took the bag that the guns were in and turned back to Troy and Kallie, they were giving her weird looks.

"What?"

"Honey, you really shouldn't be carrying that much cash with you." Kallie grabbed her arm and began leading her back out of the store closely followed by Troy.

"Later Troy, call me." Juliet called after them as they walked out the door.

"Why?" People asked fewer questions when Amelia paid in cash.

"Because, around here, people see you dropping cash like that, and they think that they just found the next three months rent" Troy said as they headed back towards the church.

"Ah, ok, I guess I didn't really think about that."

"No issue, Baby Girl, now hop in back, we have some errands to run." Kallie let go of her arm as they reached her Zomkah.

"You don't get out much, do you kid" Troy said as she climbed into the back of the car.

"No, not really, I get nervous around people." Amelia usually found herself too shy to talk to most people.

"You just need to get a little more social interaction, sweetie." Kallie pulled out into the street.

"So what are these errands?" Amelia pulled the Spree out of the bag and examined it.

"Some Vice Kings have been hanging around the Row; we're going to take them out." Troy had a VICE 9 in his hand.

"Uh, you know I have never fired a gun before, right?" Amelia found the safety on the Spree and clicked it off.

"Don't worry kiddo, dive-bys are easy, just make sure that you point the gun in the right direction and don't let the recoil get you. Once we get close to the VKs, I'll slow down a little, and the second Troy starts firing, you open up on them. Quantity over quality in this case, honey." Kallie spoke with an air of experience, she turned on the radio and 'Hate' began to blare from the car's speakers. Troy rolled his eyes.

"There they are, get ready kid." Troy pointed out three men dressed in yellow standing on a street corner.

Amelia braced herself against the side of the car and curled her finger around the trigger. Amelia closed her eyes and took a deep breath. She opened her eyes again and she felt the car slow down. She heard Troy fire the first shot and pulled back the trigger. Her shots were wild, but Amelia saw several of the bullets make their mark. The three Vice kings all dropped, either by Troy's VICE or Amelia's Spree. They hit two more groups and achieved similar results.

"Hey Kallika, now that everything's taken care of, can you drop me off at Freckle Bitch's? I'm jonesin' for a fun bag." Troy tucked his VICE into his waistband.

"Sure, I'm pretty hungry myself, what about you Amy?" Kallika gave a brief glance toward Amelia, who was putting her Spree back in the bag.

"Starving" Amelia said as she tried to work her NR4 into her waistband, she could not find a comfortable position.

"Sit up straight if you put it behind you, otherwise put it in front, a little towards your hip. It's uncomfortable no matter what if you're sitting, but it digging into your hip is a lot better than it digging into your crotch. It helps if you wear an undershirt" Kallie said when she noticed Amelia's fidgeting.

"Ahh, thanks" Amelia slid the pistol where Kallie had told her.

They turned into the Freckle Bitch's and Kallika pulled into a parking space. Another purple car pulled up next to them, the black teenager who had been present at her canonization was driving.

"Later girls, I'm gonna grab some drive-thru with Dex." Troy got into the car with the black teenager, Dex.

"Come on 'Melia, I'm buying." Kallie hooked her arm around Amelia's and led her toward the fast food restaurant.

"Grab us a table, will you? I'll get our stuff, what do you want?" Kallie let go of Amelia's arm.

"Oh, just grab me an order of Chicken Bazooms, a Big Swallow of Dr. Pepper, and some fries." Amelia sat down at the first empty table she found outside.

"KK" Kallie headed into the restaurant, Amelia noticed that every guy and one or two girls at the fast food joint was staring at Kallie as she walked. A few minutes later, Kallie came back out holding two trays full of food and drinks.

"Umm, you know everyone is staring at you, right" Amelia asked as Kallie set the trays on the table.

"Yeah, because I'm wearing a camisole under an open jacket, jeans that look like they're painted on, I'm a D cup, and I'm not wearing a bra or panties." Kallie laughed when Amelia blushed at her bluntness.

"You're cute when your embarrassed, Baby Girl. We need to get you some blush, though you do it enough already. Like I told you last night, honey, I know who and what I am, I'm attractive, I like the attention, and I like sex. I'm comfortable with who I am." Amelia quickly looked down at the table. she really didn't want Kallie to see her jealousy.

"Aww, what's wrong sweetie?" Kallie was learning very quickly that Amelia was horrible at hiding her feelings.

"Well, i-it's just that I r-really w-wish that I had y-your confidence. Like, h-how do y-you even do t-that?" Amelia felt ashamed at being jealous of someone so nice to her.

"Relax Baby Girl, it's just a matter of being comfortable in your skin, anyone who doesn't like you for you can go fuck themselves with a lead dildo" Kallie said as she picked at her salad.

"I guess I'm just not good at that." Amelia sighed and grabbed some of her fries.

"By the way sweetie, how are you holding up?" Kallie set down her fork and looked Amelia in the eyes.

"Oh, uh, g-good, fine, w-why do y-you ask?" Amelia fiddled with her ponytail as she spoke.

"Sweetie, you just killed four people, that tends to effect people." Kallie gave her a once over, Amelia didn't seem like she was hiding sadness or regret, what most people felt after their first kill. She seemed more confused than anything.

"I don't know, I feel like I'm supposed to feel bad about doing it, or something." Amelia returned her gaze to the table.

"But you don't do you?" Kallie knew how she felt just from the look on her face.

"No, I just feel nothing, it's not like I feel good about it or anything. I don't know how to explain it. I guess, I feel like, well like when I find someone else's bad code in a program, I don't feel good about it, it's destroying someone else's code, but I don't feel bad either, it was something that needed to be fixed, if that makes any sense. I really just feel nothing about it." Amelia shook her head slightly, she thought that it sounded stupid. Then her face shot back up with a look of fear.

"Is there something wrong with me, does this mean I'm crazy?" Amelia immediately pictured herself as some deranged lunatic wrapped up in a straight jacket, kept loopy by medicine. Kallie saw the terror etched into Amelia's face. She immediately stood up, walked around the table, and sat down next to Amelia, wrapping the smaller girl in a fierce hug.

"No, sweetie, you are not crazy and there is nothing wrong with you. You're just not hampered by all the stupid things that 'normal' people deal with. You are perfect just the way you are, Baby Girl." Kallie stroked Amelia's hair as she whispered in the girl's ear. And if anyone tells her otherwise, I'll rip their fucking tongue out, she thought.

"Thanks Kallie" Amelia, for her part, clung to the larger girl just as she would her stuffed octopus during a nightmare.

"Hey baby, why don't you ditch the little bitch and come hang with us?" a frat boy, who smelled like a brewery, had sauntered up to their table and now stood next to them, wobbling as though off balance and pointing toward a group of other similarly dressed frat boys.

Kallie closed her eyes and took a deep breath, Kallika opened her eyes and let go of Amelia, who was torn between glaring at the frat boy and trying to disappear, settling into a glare at the table. Kallika looked at the frat boy and a grin that could only be described as predatory crossed her face.

"Ooh, I like your smile baby, let's see what else you can do with your-agggch." The frat boy struggled to breathe as Kallika's perfectly manicured hand closed around his throat.

"We're trying to enjoy lunch, why don't you apologize to my friend?" The frat boy tried to croak out an apology, the hand around his throat sobering him quickly.

"We're waiting" Kallika said while tightening her grip on his throat. The frat boy's friends had seen what was happening and were moving over to help their friend. Amelia looked at Kallika, then looked at the frat boy who was losing consciousness, and then at the frat boys coming to aid their friend. It took her less than a second to decide what to do.

Amelia stood up, tugged her scarf a little tighter around her neck, and headed to intercept the frat boys. She slipped around Kallika and stood in front of the oncoming frats.

"Listen, y-you r-really don't want t-to do this." Amelia couldn't stop her stutter, her nerves were screaming at her to disappear. The frats laughed and one, a tall boy with bleach blonde hair and a spray tan, stepped forward and looked down at her.

"Oh some stupid l-l-l-little g-g-girl with Tourette's is in our way, golly gee, guess we can't do anything, huh, fellows?" The boy looked at his friends, whose laughter only grew at the boy's mocking.

"Get out of our way baby bitch; you look like you need your diaper changed. We're going to show that carpet munching psycho why you don't fuck with Rho Omicron Lambda Epsilon Rho Sigma!" The frats joined in, chanting their name as though it were a battle cry. The perversion of Kallika's nickname for her was what did it, Amelia pulled up her sweater a small bit and drew her pistol. Before any of the frats could even register it, she had pointed the gun at the lead boy's right knee cap and fired.

"What the fu—aagghh, aggh my fucking leg, someone get this stupid bitch, nobody fucks with the Rollerz." The lead boy dropped to the ground, clutching his leg. Amelia started stepping back as the Rollerz started advancing on her.

"Rollerz, Amelia, kill them!" Kallika pulled a switchblade out of her pocket and slammed it into the eye of the now unconscious Roller. When she no longer felt a heartbeat in his neck she ripped it back out, the blade came out with a wet squelch, and dropped the corpse. She then went after the group of Rollerz that Amelia was holding at bay with her pistol

A Roller moved forward to try and grab the pistol out of Amelia's hand, her finger snapped back three times, and blood came flowing from the Roller's neck as one bullet passed through his throat. Another came rushing at her, only to take a bullet to the chest. A third grabbed her from behind, she kicked and squirmed, but couldn't break the hold. She accidentally pulled the trigger again, sending a round ricocheting against the concrete. Kallika rushed the Roller holding Amelia from behind and slammed the switchblade into the back of his skull. The Roller went limp as the blade severed his brain from his spine.

Amelia pushed herself away from the, now dead, Roller and moved behind Kallika. They looked at the last two Rollers who were now slowly backing away from the whole scene.

"Amelia, hand me your pistol." Kallika held out her hand and Amelia placed her pistol in it. The two Rollers turned and started running; Kallika took a one handed marksman stance and aimed for one of the Rollers. She squeezed the trigger and the Roller dropped, then she targeted the other Roller, who was now running faster, one more squeeze of the trigger and he dropped to.

"Well that was fun, let's get going, we still have one more errand to run today" Kallika said as she handed the pistol back to Amelia and started walking toward her car. Amelia turned around to follow her, when she heard a groan. She looked at the bodies and saw that the Roller who had been insulting her was now propping himself up on his elbows while clutching his leg.

"You stupid bitch, I'll probably be in a wheel chair for the rest of my life because of you." The Roller looked up at her as he spoke, a vicious glare on his face.

"No you won't, I warned you." Amelia leveled her pistol at his head. For a second she was back on that street corner, staring up at that Vice King's pistol. She shook herself out of the reverie.

"You stupid baby bitch, you won't go through with i-." Amelia fired and the man's head slammed into the ground as a gaping red hole appeared in his forehead, he was dead immediately.

"Come on Baby Girl, we need to get moving, we still have one thing left to do today." Kallie came up behind her and placed her hands on the girl's shoulders.

"Oh, yeah, coming" Amelia plastered a smile across her face and allowed Kallie to guide her towards the Zomkah.

"So what is this last errand that we need to take care of?" Amelia asked once they were back in the car.

"We need to check on a guy named Will. He is supposed to help the Saints get into the prostitution game, but he hasn't been turned in any profits. We provided him with eight thousand dollars to cover the start up costs a few weeks ago and he's barely turned in anything since then. Either he's trying to run off with our money, he's trying to keep all of the profits to himself, or there is a bigger problem, after that we'll head back to the church." Kallie put the car in drive and pulled out of the parking lot onto the street.

"Bigger problems like what?" Amelia thought about what Kallie had been doing last night.

"Problems that take more than killing Will to solve" Kallika said as she turned into Harrowgate.

"So what do you actually do for the Saints?" Amelia had noticed that the Saints didn't have set roles, but they had to have some level of delegation among the lieutenants.

"I'm the numbers girl for the Saints, but I'm also in charge of setting up and managing our prostitution endeavor." Kallie had volunteered for it; it suited her tastes as a combination of business acumen and psychological analysis.

"So what you were doing last night was?" If she's in charge then why would she be on the street, Amelia thought. Everything that she had learned on the internet told her that the higher up you got, the farther away from the action you got.

"I was looking into the whole Will situation, trying to see if he was setting something up and cutting us out. The weird thing is that I couldn't find anything like that. I checked around and none of the girls had seen anyone working for the Saints, that's what I was talking to that VK girl, Shaniqua, for. That means that Will is either trying to run off with our money, or we have larger problems to deal with." If Will isn't trying to fuck us, then this could be trouble, Kallika thought.

They pulled into a parking lot where Amelia saw a man in an ugly purple suit smoking cigar and drinking from a golden goblet and a fat, unattractive, woman in revealing clothing.

"You can wait in the car if you want sweetheart, this shouldn't take long" Kallie said as she opened her door.

"I think I will, this whole pimp thing weirds me out a little." Amelia said, the gang bangers, she was okay with, shooting and fighting, simple. Pimps just seemed pervy.

"KK, just put the top up, will you, Baby Girl, top button by the light switch. This might get a little messy." Kallie got out and started toward the pimp.

"What's goin' on Kallie? I figured you'd be stoppin' by, plannin' on takin' me up on my offer. You would draw up some real bank if you worked the streets" Will took a long drag of his cigar as Kallika drew closer. He bit off the end of the cigar as Kallika's fist slammed into his jaw, sending him to the ground. Kallika planted her foot on his neck.

"Will, either you're fucking me, or you're an idiot, and right now there is only one person allowed to fuck me, so it better be the second one. Now, which is it?" Damn, I wish I wore my high heeled stripper boots today, they're way better for this, Kallika thought.

"Listen I was just kidding on the whole… ugh" Kallika cut him off by putting more pressure on his neck.

"You know what I meant, now answer the question" Kallika pulled the pistol from her waistband and aimed it down at Will's head.

"You can't kill me you crazy bitch, me and Julius go way back" Will screamed as she cocked the pistol.

"Julius and Ben King go way back to, but I still waste VKs. Five seconds to answer the question or I blow your head off." Kallika pressed down even harder on his windpipe to punctuate her sentence.

"Now just let me explain" Will tried to grab at her leg, but couldn't get a grip.

"Five"

"You ain't gonna do it" Will said though he sounded more like he was trying to convince himself.

"Four"

"Just think about this" He could hardly breathe at all with her foot on his windpipe.

"Three"

"I swear if you let me up I'll explain everything" His vision was beginning to cloud up.

"Two"

Will's vision was turning black, he would be unconscious soon.

"One"

"I'm an idiot!" Will finally exclaimed, Kallika took her cross trainer off his neck and he began sucking air into his lungs.

"I thought so, now, what's the problem?" Kallika kept the gun on him as he struggled to his feet.

"Listen, now, I'm doin' my best, but the other gangs got this place sewn up, all the good bitches be taken. The only bitch I could get is so damn fugly, blind muthafuckas turn her down. If I had some of them fine bitches who're turnin' tricks for other pimps, I'd be able to start seein' real money." Will gestured toward the unattractive woman across the parking lot as he spoke.

"Alright, I'll handle getting the girls, but you mean that the Saints will start seeing real money. Once we have this set up, we're going to renegotiate your fee." Kallika turned and started walking toward her car.

"Hold up now, you promised me thirty percent" Will yelled in outrage.

"And you promised us that you could set up our prostitution racket if we covered the start up costs and offered protection, and so far all you seem to be able to handle is management so you'll be lucky if you get ten percent" Kallika called over her shoulder.

"Hold up now you stupid cunt, I was the number one pimp in Sunnyvale. I tell sluts like you what to do, not the other way around. Come here you stupid bitch." Will started toward Kallika, only to drop to the ground as she spun around and sent a round over his head.

"You may have been the number one pimp in Sunnyvale, but here you're just another punk. You'll be lucky if I don't kill you and find someone else, and that is Miss Price to you." Kallika tucked her pistol back in her waistband and got back into her car.

"Change of plans Baby Girl, looks like we have another situation to deal with. I can drop you at your place if you want?" Kallie gave Amelia an apologetic smile as she put the car in reverse.

"No big deal, I have nothing waiting for me at home except a Call of Duty match. What do we need to do?" Amelia didn't get much offline social contact, so she was more than happy to keep doing things with Kallie.

"We have to go take out some of the rival gangs' pimps and take their hookers." Kallie pulled out of the parking lot and turned toward some apartment buildings.

"Um, ok, I get the whole kill the pimps thing, but how do we know the prostitutes will come with us?" Amelia wasn't comfortable with kidnapping hookers at gunpoint.

"Aww, sweetie, you're adorable when you're naïve" Kallie said with a giggle.

"Okay, that still doesn't explain how we're going to get the hookers." Amelia blushed at Kallie calling her adorable.

"Honey, we're not trying to get prostitutes, we're getting hookers, hookers are like drugs, if you want to steal them, you kill the dealer. A prostitute, yeah they're high class call girls and to get them you have to negotiate and convince them, hookers are desperate and will generally just go with whoever can take them."

"So we just drive up, shoot the pimp get, the prostitutes and take them back to that sleazy guy in the suit." Amelia grabbed her Spree from the back seat.

"Now you've got it sweetie" Kallie said as she put the top down again.

They pulled up to a streetcorner where a man in a fur lined coat and a large feathered hat.

"Now" Kallika said and Amelia aimed her Spree at the man and fired, red mist exploded from the man as he was riddled with bullets. Kallika looked at the two cowering hookers and gave a sharp whistle. The two hookers darted towards the Zomkah and hopped in the backseat. Kallika floored the accelerator and headed back towards the parking lot where Will was waiting. They did this six more times with similar results, After they pulled back into the pimp's parking lot the last time, Kallika said that they had gotten enough. The pimp walked up to the car, trying to scrap together his dignity after the beatdown that Kallika had given him. He covered his face with a fake smile, but the bruise on his neck still showed, and his indignation and fear could be seen in his eyes.

"That's right, now we can start seein' some serious bank. These some fine bitches, the cash gonna be rollin' in like you never seen." The man gave a laugh that was just too enthusiastic to be real.

"Shut the fuck up you idiot, I'll be by later tonight to discuss your new fee. You sure as hell aren't getting a percentage anymore." Kallika glared at the pimp as she spoke. The pimp looked like he wanted to say something, but then he looked at the Spree that Amelia was holding and decided not to. Kallika put the top up and floored it out of the parking lot, leaving the pimp in the dust. Amelia looked at the clock on the radio, it was nine fifty seven. She felt exhausted from the long day of fighting and shooting.

"Hey Kallie, can you drop me at my place? If we have anything else to do then we're going to have to grab some cappuccino first." Amelia stretched out in her seat and yawned.

"Sure Baby Girl, the only thing I have left to do tonight is report in with Julius and put that poser, Will, in his place." Kallie switched the radio to K12 and turned into MissionBeach.

"Thanks" Amelia leaned her head against the window and slowly dozed off.

"Guess she's more of the in bed by ten type" Kallie said with a small smile, her voice barely a whisper so as not to wake Amelia. She curled up into a ball and squirmed when she slept, from the look on her face in the middle of some nightmare, just like… no, Kallie thought, you will not think about Lara. Kallie shook off her memories and pulled up to the curb next to Amelia's apartment.

"Amy, wake up sweetie, we're at your place." Kallie gave Amelia's shoulder a light shake.

"Whaaa, huh, oh" Amelia woke with a start and yelped as she was jolted out of her nightmare.

"Whoa, sweetie, calm down, it's just me, it's just me Baby Girl." Kallie stroked Amelia's hair for a second until the smaller girl calmed down.

"Oh, I-I'm r-r-really s-sorry, I-I g-get n-night t-t-terrors" Amelia blushed yet again as she stammered out her apology for her antics.

"Don't worry about it sweetie, it's not your fault. You want me to walk you up?" Kallie offered as Amelia undid her seat belt, grabbed her guns, and opened the car door.

"No, I s-should b-be fine" Amelia said as she started to get out of the car.

"Hold up for a second Baby Girl, let me put my number in your phone, in case you need to get a hold of me." Amelia handed her phone to Kallie and she put herself into Amelia's contact list.

"There you go" Kallie said as she handed the phone back to Amelia.

"Thanks, n-night Kallie" Amelia bent across the front seat to give Kallie a quick embrace. Kallie immediately received the hug.

"Night Amy, oh and I almost forgot. Welcome to the Saints" Kallie said as she let go of Amelia.

Amelia slid out of the car and headed for the door of her building. She looked back and saw Kallie's car speeding off toward the church.

Amelia headed up the stairs to her loft, she got to her door and pulled out her key. She unlocked her door and walked into her apartment. Her guns went on the coffee table, her shoes went by the door, her shirt and pants in a heap by her wardrobe. She reached behind her and unsnapped her bra, then flung it at her hamper, and finally she slipped off her panties and tossed them by her hamper. Amelia strolled nude over to where she had tossed her oversized tee that morning. She pulled it on over her head.

"Today was… interesting." Amelia grabbed a Dr. Pepper out of her fridge and laid down on her couch. She grabbed her remote and flipped on her television.

"I don't know if this whole Saints thing is going to end well, but it will be exciting at the very least." Amelia took a drink of her soda and decided to watch Game of Thrones on HBO.

She had dozed off as Daenaerys stared at her dragon eggs.

**And Chapter Two is up, this one was a long one. I'm going to try to get out a chapter a week, but I'm in my senior year of high school so I might not be able to put out a chapter a week once school picks up.**

**So, you guys like it? You guys hate it? Send me some feedback people.**

**Next up, Amelia learns some of the downsides of being in a gang.**

**R&R people.**


	3. Liquor, Pull Ups, and Flaming Corpses

Amelia was drawn out of her slumber by the sound of T.I. belting out 'Live your life' and moaning.

"Oh yeah, right there, that's the spot, put your fingers in there."

Amelia's eyes shot open and she went for her pistol on the coffee table. She ended up rolling off the couch and slamming to the floor. She reached up onto the coffee table, hand searching for her pistol. Her hand caught the familiar shape of her Spree and she shot, both hands gripping the submachine gun. She scanned the apartment, looking for intruders to empty a clip into.

"Oh, Oh, I'm cumming, I'm cuuummming, aaaah." Amelia spun around to see the source of the noise, two very attractive women were fondling each other on her television screen. Amelia sighed and relaxed, HBO must have switched to porn while she was sleeping, then she realized the music was coming from her jeans, it was her ringtone. She walked over to her wardrobe and flicked on the light switch by her bed. She grabbed her phone out of one of the pockets of the jeans.

"Hello, Emma White, why are you calling me this late?" Her irritation was evident in her voice as she answered the phone.

"Emma? I thought your name was Amy." The voice on the other end was unmistakably male, and unfamiliar.

"It is, who are you, how did you get my number?" Amelia caught a look at herself in the mirror, her oversized tee was bunched up around her waist, leaving her naked from the waist down, Kallie's purple scarf was still wrapped around her neck, and her ponytail was messy from sleeping on it.

"I'm Dex, lieutenant with the Saints. Kallika gave me this number." Amelia realized that it was the Black teenager who had picked up Troy from Freckle Bitch's

"Oh, sorry, I'm not really a late night person, you know it's like one thirty in the morning, right?" Amelia set her Spree on her wardrobe

"Yeah I know, listen, rumor is that The Carnales are set up in an old liquor store. I need you to go check it out." She pulled down her tee so that it went down past her knees.

"Okay, but you'll need to have someone pick me up at my place." Amelia pulled open the third drawer of her wardrobe and pulled out a pair of Highschool of the Dead pajama pants.

"I already have one of the boys swinging by to pick you up, his name is Miguel, you kicked his ass yesterday. He's the big ass Mexican guy with all the jewelry." Amelia pulled on the pajama pants and tucked her Spree into the waistband.

"You had to pick someone who I beat up in the last twenty four hours?" She walked over to her kitchen, grabbed a steel travel tumbler and a French vanilla K cup.

"You and Miguel were the only people to answer, you are way more assertive on the phone than in person. We need to hit The Carnales now, while they aren't ready for it, Miguel said that he would be by your place in like ten minutes, that was five minutes ago so he should be there soon." Amelia put the K cup in her Keurig and placed her tumbler under the nozzle.

"I'm more assertive on the phone because I'm terrified to speak when talking in person. Why the fuck did I just say that? Either way, sure, me and this Miguel guy can deal with this." Amelia poured in the cream and stirred her coffee. She took a sip, stirred in more cream, and sipped again, satisfied, she then put the lid on her travel tumbler.

"It's Miguel and I" Dex said as Amelia walked over to her den area, tumbler in hand. Amelia grabbed the remote, took one look at the action happening on screen, and flipped off her television.

"What?"

"The right grammar, it's Miguel and I." Amelia frowned at his correction. She did not like grammar Nazis.

"Dex, I will never call you out on this in person, so I have to say it now while I have you on the phone and have the confidence. I want to be good friends with all the Saints, but I hate it when people correct my grammar." Amelia grabbed her NR4 and tucked it into her waistband with her Spree.

"Whatever, just go deal with The Carnales at the liquor store, later." Dex hung up before she could respond. She frowned, she felt like she had blown her first real conversation with him.

There was a knock at her door. That must be Miguel she thought. Amelia opened the door and was greeted by a hulking purple figure. Miguel looked even bigger than he had during her canonization. He had to be at least six feet and seven inches, he was very broad and had arms and legs like tree trunks. Looking up at him, Amelia felt like a toddler. He wore jeans, a purple sweatshirt, a purple dew rag over his hair, and he still wore his medallions around his neck.

"Hola, I am Miguel" Miguel said, his voice a deep baritone with a hint of a Mexican accent.

"Um, h-h-h-hola M-M-Miguel" Amelia stuttered out. The man's size was much more intimidating now that she didn't have adrenalin to dull her fears.

"Como se llama?" Miguel extended his massive paw of a hand.

"M-M-Me llamo Amelia, e-es m-m-muy b-bueno q-que se reuna c-con usted." Amelia's stutter was almost worse when she spoke Spanish. She accepted the handshake

"You speak Spanish?" Miguel gave a broad smile that someone knew his native language and shook her hand vigorously.

"U-Un p-p-pequeno" Amelia said. Amelia head expected her hand to be crushed, but for such a large man, his grip was surprisingly delicate.

"Vamos nina, we go" Miguel said, grabbing her and pulling her forward, out of her door. His grip was delicate, but the pull nearly sent her sprawling, if not for his grip on her arm she would have hit the floor. She locked her door and followed him down the stairs and out the door to her apartment. Miguel drove a big purple bulldog, Amelia climbed up into the truck and put her tumbler in the cup holder.

"There are extra ammo clips for your guns in my backseat if you need them." Miguel turned the ignition and pulled away from the curb, driving towards Athos Bay.

"I-I'm r-really sorry a-a-about w-what happened yesterday" Amelia said, breaking the awkward silence.

"It is no problem, canonization is hard for all of us, and you handled yours like un campeon" Miguel clamped one of his hands on her shoulders to punctuate his statement.

"G-G-Gracias" Amelia said while blushing. She reached down and took a drink of her cappuccino. Silence returned, no sound other than their breathing and Amelia's occasional sips from her tumbler. After several more moments of silence, Miguel spoke again.

"You are more comfortable with Miss Price around, si?"

"M-M-Miss P-Price, y-you mean K-Kallie, w-w-why d-do y-you a-a-ask?" The question took Amelia by surprise, but when she thought about she realized that he was right. She was more comfortable when Kallie was around. Despite only knowing her a short time, she felt a sisterly bond with Kallie.

"I ask because at your canonization you were trading barbs with Johnny Gat, one of the deadliest men to ever live, and now what little you do say, you say in a stutter and you never meet my eyes when you speak." Miguel spoke in a calm matter of fact tone.

"D-D-Deadliest m-men t-t-to ever l-live. Y-You m-m-mean t-t-the A-Asian g-guy?" The idea that she might have pissed off someone like that freaked her out quite a bit.

"Yes, but don't worry about Johnny, he is a good man, just don't make him too angry." Miguel shook his head, the man was a good friend, but he was highly volatile.

"O-O-Oh, o-ok" Amelia decided she would have to tread very carefully around that guy the next time she saw him.

"But, as I said, you are more comfortable with Miss Price around, correct?" Miguel stopped at an intersection, some Carnales standing on the street corner glared at him, he debated shooting them as he drove by. But he decided that he had bigger game to hunt tonight. Plus, he wasn't sure how much he wanted to get the rookie into that night.

"Y-Y-Yeah, I-I guess" Amelia said as she grabbed three more ammo clips for her Spree from the backseat.

"It is understandable; Miss Price has a confidence about her that is infectious. She is a natural leader. I apologize if this question comes across as insulting, but how old are you really? You looked young at the church, now you look like you haven't seen your tenth birthday yet." Miguel knew she was competent, her canonization had proven that, but he was not comfortable working with a child.

"I-I r-r-really am f-f-fifteen" Amelia wanted to disappear, she hated when people brought up her appearance. She was well aware of how young she looked in her pajamas

"That does surprise me nina, I have a younger brother your age, he goes to Shivington Community High School. Should you not be in school yourself?" He took another look at her, even if she was fifteen, he wasn't comfortable with the Saints recruiting teenagers. Miguel had told Julius that they should have an eighteen year old age requirement, Julius had said that canonization would scare most of them off, but there were a few who held their resolve.

"I-It's a-a l-l-long s-story" Why is he so concerned about my age, she thought. It made her deeply uncomfortable, all of the other Saints, Julius included, had taken her age in stride.

"One that I have not earned the right to hear, I take it." Miguel understood, he did not like it, but he understood. Everyone was entitled to their secrets.

"N-No, s-s-sorry" Amelia kept her eyes on the floor mats as she spoke.

"No problemo, I understand. I hope that you know how to handle those pistolas, though." Miguel already expected that he would have to be constantly half focused on protecting her. If she didn't know how to handle a gun then his job would be that much harder.

"I-I d-d-do" Amelia locked the slide back on her pistol and switched the old magazine for a fresh one.

"Bien, simply follow my lead and stay behind me, comprende?" If I am to keep her safe, then hopefully she can follow instructions, Miguel thought.

"Yo comprendo" Amelia decided that it was probably best to do as he told her, if for nothing else, then for the fact that Miguel terrified her.

"Bien" Miguel pulled up to the curb in front of a boarded up old store front and turned off the Bulldog. He turned around and started rooting around in his back seat.

"W-What a-a-are you l-looking f-for?" Amelia tucked her pistol into her waistband once again and got a firm grip on her Spree.

"Just mi Amigo pequeno" Miguel said as he turned back around to the front seat, a K6 Krukov in his hands.

"Follow me" Miguel said as he hopped out of the truck. Amelia opened her door, got out, and darted around the truck after him.

"Hasta la vista bitches!" Miguel kicked in the door and his Krukov let out a spray of bullets, sending a man in red sprawling across a toppled over refrigerator. Amelia followed him in, eyes scanning the room for someone to kill. The man in red had been the only one in the room. They could hear others in the rooms beyond. Miguel charged through the doorway off one side of the room, Amelia trailing behind. Another Carnale popped out from behind two blue barrels, only to be laid out by Miguel's Krukov. Miguel rounded a corner, only to take cover behind another pair of blue barrels as two more Carnales filled the hallway with lead. Amelia ducked behind the wall and waited for a lull in the gunfire, then she popped out from behind the corner and sprayed the two Carnales, sending them to the floor. Miguel was impressed, her shots were poorly aimed, but many bullets still found their targets.

"Yo soy la muerta" Miguel called out as he rushed through the hallway. Amelia stayed close to him and took cover by the doorway next to him. Miguel looked in the room and saw two Carnale behind cover in the last room.

"you take the one on the left, I take the right, on three" Miguel pointed in each direction as he spoke and Amelia nodded.

"Uno" Miguel reloaded his weapon.

"Dos" Amelia curled her finger around the trigger of her Spree once more.

"Tres" Miguel went in first, Amelia a second after him, they filled the room with a hail of gunfire and the two Carnales were collapsed to the floor, riddled with bullets.

They saw a third Carnale dart out the back door and chased after him. They darted out into the alley, A fourth Carnale sent several shots their way while the third rounded the corner, heading towards the street. The fourth fell quickly as a quick burst of fire from Amelia's spree raked across his chest. Miguel and Amelia rounded the corner to see the man getting into a red Hollywood. Amelia and Miguel both began emptying their magazines into the Hollywood. The car began accelerating forward, but the rear wheels each popped as bullets tore through them. The car spun out and slammed into the barrier across the street.

"Time to finish this" Miguel ran towards the car, Amelia right on his heels. The Carnale looked like he was unconscious, so they moved in slowly when they got near the car, Miguel raise his Krukov to finish him off.

Suddenly the Carnale popped up and let out a spray of bullets from his submachine gun. Three bullets hit Miguel in the chest, the huge man winced but didn't go down, instead he emptied what the few remaining rounds in his Krukov's magazine into the Carnale. The Carnale slumped against his seat, a twitch of his finger sending out one final spray of gunfire.

"Aaaggh" Amelia screamed as she felt an explosion of pain in her shoulder, she looked down and saw red blood staining her tee around a small hole in the fabric. Her vision swam and she dropped to her knees. She clutched a hand over the wound as the world spun around her. She heard Miguel yelling something, but all sounds around her were becoming muffled and she couldn't understand what he was saying. Finally, the world around her started to fade and she felt the ground rush up on her. As she hit the ground, her vision faded completely.

The pain faded and Amelia felt herself slip into a void of darkness.

….

"I can ride my bike with no handlebars."

"No handlebars"

"No handlebars"

Kallika's hand shot out from under the covers and grabbed her phone. She sat up with a scowl on her face and looked at the clock, it was two twenty in the morning.

"This better be an emergency." Kallika did not like being woken up in the middle of the night, especially on those rare occasions when she got in before midnight. She looked over next to her, her lover was busy that evening and thus not there.

"Stilwater Memorial, why would they call me?" She wondered if one of the Saints was wounded, thinking that might be a possibility, she brought the phone to her ear and answered it.

"Hello, is this Miss Kallika Price?" A female voice asked.

"Yes this is she, what's going on" Kallika asked, confusion evident in her voice.

"This is Stilwater Memorial Hospital. We have your younger sister here, she appears to have been shot." Kallika's eyes shot open and she dropped the phone, for a second she wasn't in her apartment. She was twenty two again in her last year for her MBA, sitting up in bed in her dorm room at Stilwater University.

"Hello, hello ma'am, are you still there?" the woman's voice called out from the covers where the phone had landed. Kallika picked up the phone again.

"Yes, I'm here, w-what happened?" Confusion turned to concern and fear as she spoke. This isn't happening, this has to be some nightmare, she thought.

"A large Hispanic man named Miguel brought Amelia in, she was unconscious, but he told us her name, gave us your number, and said that she was your younger sister and that you were her legal guardian." Kallika sighed for a second, calming slightly as the fear dissipated but the concern remained. It made a little more sense now. But the idea of Amelia getting shot still left a cold hand clenched around her heart.

"Yes, Amelia is my baby sister and Miguel is a family friend. Did he say what happened?" Kallika kept her lie as close to the truth as possible. She had known Miguel since she was a kid, and she had quickly come to think of Amelia as her baby sister.

"He said that he had picked her up from a sleepover for you and on the way back they were caught in a firefight between street gangs. A stray round caught her in the shoulder." What the hell happened, Kallika thought.

"Oh my God, is she alright?" Kallika gasped, a bullet to the shoulder could be very lethal if the bullet hit any major arteries.

"Yes, the bullet was a clean through-and-through. It missed the bone and didn't hit any major arteries. She'll be fine." Kallika relaxed a little bit more as the woman said that Amelia would be fine. Kallika had been shot in the shoulder before, it hurt like hell, but it wouldn't do any permanent damage as long as the bullet didn't hit anything important.

"I'll be there as soon as I can." Kallika hung up and got out of bed. She slept nude, she went to her dresser and grabbed a pair of purple track hot pants with white trim. Then she went to her closet and grabbed a purple crop top. Once she had those on slipped her feet into a pair of white designer running shoes. She rushed out of her bedroom and grabbed her keys off of the table in the hallway. She ran a hand through her shoulder length hair on the way out, to smooth it out a bit. She walked down the stairs, through her living room, and out through her front door. She went down the stairs to where her car was parked and hopped in. The whole process took her about five minutes.

"Someone is going to get their ass beat for this." Kallika put the car in drive and pulled away from the curb. She had told the other lieutenants when she had reported in with Julius, Amelia didn't get called in for anything without Kallika until she was less green.

Kallika lived in Sommerset, Stilwater Memorial was in Adept way, so it took her about thirty minutes to get from her apartment to the hospital. She pulled into the hospital and saw Miguel's bulldog. Kallika jumped out of her car, darting for the hospital entrance. She walked up to the receptionist's counter.

"Hello, my name is Kallika Price. I was told that my younger sister had been shot." Kallika kept her voice level, completely hiding her concern and anger.

"Ahh yes, Miss Price, your sister is in room 405, the nurse will take you there." The receptionist didn't even look up from her computer as she spoke. An attractive Hispanic woman with black hair done up in a stylish bun, wearing pink scrubs appeared behind Kallika.

"I'll take you to your sister, she's stable" The Hispanic nurse said, a slight Latin accent to her voice, and motioned for her to follow.

"So I know this is none of my business, but I've seen your sister, she's white, is she adopted or something?" The nurse pressed the call button for the elevator.

"She's my half sister, I'm bi" Kallika responded. We might as well keep this as close to the truth as possible, she thought.

"Well I've had my fair share of experiences on that side of the fence myself, but I have a boyfriend right now. So talk to me in a few months, but that still doesn't answer my question." The nurse stepped into the elevator and Kallika followed.

"I mean I'm biracial, dad was black, mom was white. Amelia has a different father" Kallika said truthfully. She saw the nurse blush at her mistake. The nurse hit the button for the fourth floor and the doors closed.

"Oh, sorry, that makes sense, nice shoes by the way Giuseppe Zanotti?" The nurse looked down at Kallika's shoes.

"Yeah" Kallika said. She knows a lot more about shoes than a nurse should, she thought.

"I love his work; we have to wear these stupid Crocs here." The nurse pointed to her shoes to punctuate her statement.

"You know a lot about shoes for a nurse." Kallika voiced her thought. She had learned long ago that quirks could sometimes be breaks in a cover.

"Yeah, to be honest I hate having to work here, but I have the qualifications, I like kids, and my boyfriend says it looks better on taxes for me to have a job" the nurse grumbled.

"Ah" so she is hooked up with a drug dealer or a pimp looking to hide his secret income from the IRS, Kallika thought, good to know. The doors opened to the pediatrics department and the nurse led her down the hallway. Kallika could easily tell which room was Amelia's, Miguel's behemoth form stood in front of the room.

"Your sister is stable; the bullet was a through-and-through and didn't hit anything important. She is heavily sedated with painkillers and sedatives, though. So she will be asleep for quite sometime. It's probably for the best that she came in unconscious anyway, getting shot is traumatizing as hell for a nine year old. With any luck she'll have forgotten about this by the time she hits puberty." The nurse pointed at the door to Amelia's room. Kallika hid her confusion well. She knew Amelia looked a lot younger than she was, but she didn't think that a doctor or nurse would be fooled.

"Hopefully, can I go in?" Kallika could see Amelia's sleeping form through the window to the hospital room.

"Yes, but like I said, she'll be asleep for some time. I have some paper work you need to fill out at the nurses' station when you're ready. I'm Nurse Avalos by the way." The nurse turned and headed towards the nurses' station down the hall. Once she was out of ear shot, Kallika spoke.

"What the hell happened?" Kallika's anger bled into her hushed tone.

"Senorita Price, I am very sorry. I did my best to protect her, but the last Carnale surprised us." Miguel's face was covered in a deeply apologetic expression. He blamed himself for failing to protect the girl.

"No, I mean, why was she anywhere near any gang fights? Who put this together?" Kallika asked as she stared at Amelia through the window.

"We were clearing out the Carnales holed up in the abandoned liquor store in Athos Bay, Things went muy bien until the last Carnale attempted to escape, we popped his tires and sent him crashing into a barrier wall. He looked unconscious so we moved in to finish him off. He must have been faking, because once we got close he fired on us with an Urban. He caught me three times before I killed him, but I was wearing body armor. One of the stray rounds must have caught her. She collapsed and I grabbed her and rushed her here." Miguel stared at the ground as he spoke.

"She wasn't supposed to be a part of anything that I wasn't a part of. I told the other lieutenants that" Kallika said angrily.

"Dex ordered el ataque, he said that he had cleared it with Julius." The guilty expression in his face deepened with each word Miguel spoke.

"I'm going to put his head on a pike outside of the church for this. Don't blame yourself Miguel. you did everything that you were supposed to. Thank you for having them call me." Kallika hid her anger, finally noticing Miguel's look of guilt. It really wasn't his fault, Miguel was a loyal Saint who always did what the lieutenants told him.

"She said she was most comfortable around you, so you seemed like the obvious choice to call first." Miguel's guilty expression did not lighten despite Kallika's assuring that it was not his fault.

"By the way, did you really tell them that she's nine?" Miguel had to know that she was older, he was present when Amelia had declared her age at her canonization.

"No the doctors said that she had the body of a nine year old, I decided not to argue, it gave them a reason to put off calling the police until you got here." Miguel had been as surprised at Kallika when he had heard the doctors say that Amelia had the body of a nine year old, unlike Kallika however, he thought that Amelia might be lying about her age to the Saints.

"You can go Miguel; I'll take it from here." Miguel looked like he might protest, but one look from Kallika sent him off toward the elevator. Kallika took another look at Amelia and all of her anger evaporated into sisterly concern.

Kallika opened the door to the room and entered. Kallie shut the door as softly as she could behind her. Kallie stood over Amelia's sleeping form. Amelia looked even smaller than usual lying in that hospital bed. A white sheet and mint green blanket had been pulled up to her chin, leaving only her face visible. Her mousy brown hair was splayed across the pillow and her glasses were set on the bedside table. Amelia took steady, shallow breaths. Kallie sat down in the chair next to the bed and looked down at Amelia's sleeping form.

Amelia gave a slight murmur in her sleep and a slight shudder. Kallie gently stroked Amelia's hair. Her phone started vibrating, she pulled it out and checked the number, it was Julius. She walked out of the room and answered it.

"Kallika good, you need to get over to Athos Bay right fuckin' now. Dex had a crew push the Carnales out and now these bitches be makin' a play to get it back. I need you and Gat to get on that shit."

"I'm busy" Kallika said, barely masking the anger in her voice.

"Fuck you say, what the fuck is so important that you-" Kallika cut Julius off.

"I know what Dex did, because he sent Miguel and Amelia to take them out, let me repeat that, he fucking sent Amelia, as in the one person I said not to send out if I wasn't in on it. And now Amelia is passed out in a hospital bed, because she took a bullet." Kallika's voice was sub-arctic.

"Aww fuck, well, she knew what she was getting into. I'll send Troy by to check on her, but you need to get your ass down here, we just got 'em out, we can't let the Carnales get another foothold in the Row." Kallika let out a long sigh.

"Fine, I'll be right there, but you, me, and Dex are going to have a long talk when this is all over." Kallika hung up, took one last look at Amelia through the window, and headed for the elevator.

….

Amelia slowly opened her eyes, for a moment she panicked at her unfamiliar surroundings. She was in a large, well lit, room painted a light green. She felt extremely groggy, heard a steady beep, felt an odd pinching on her right middle finger, and a dull throbbing pain in her shoulder. She forced herself into consciousness and took in more details. She realized that she was in a hospital room, the beeping was from a heartbeat monitor, and the pinching was also the heartbeat monitor. The events of the night before played in her mind, explaining the throbbing pain.

Amelia pushed off the covers and sat up, pulling the heartbeat monitor off her finger as she did so. She slid her feet onto the cold tile floor and stood up, taking in her surroundings. The hospital room that she was in had two beds, but the other was empty. One wall was lined with large windows, filling the room with natural light. The wall with the door was also made up of large windows, these covered by thick curtains. Amelia walked towards the wall in front of her, an odd crinkling came from underneath her gown as she went towards the door that she assumed led to the bathroom. The butterflies painted onto the walls told her that she was in the pediatrics wing. She entered the bathroom and took a look at herself in the mirror.

Someone had changed her out of her clothes and into a pink child's hospital gown covered in yellow sunflowers and blue violets, her hair had been taken out of the ponytail and now hung to her shoulders, her bangs covered her eyes. She felt under her gown and her face blushed with a new intensity, someone had put a pull up on her. She immediately slid it off and tossed it in the trash can. She pulled down the gown and felt her bandaged left shoulder, the pain intensified when she pressed down on the wound, but no blood soaked through the bandage. Amelia then decided she needed to get moving.

Amelia darted out of the bathroom and looked around for her stuff, her glasses were on the bedside table, she couldn't find her clothes. She found her pajama pants and Kallie's scarf in a plastic bag by the bed. She pulled on the pants and tucked the scarf in her pocket. She then walked quickly out of the room.

Amelia looked around the corridor, a few kids were out, a few in street clothes, but most dressed in gowns similar to hers. A few nurses and doctors were rushing around and thankfully paid little attention to her. Amelia looked at the nurses' station, there was no way that she could slip in and hack the computer system without being seen, she needed a distraction.

"Watch out" Amelia turned just in time to get run into by another girl, knocking her over. Amelia bit her lip when she hit the ground, the impact made her shoulder hurt like hell.

"I'm sorry, I'm like a total klutz" the girl said as she extended a hand to help her up. The girl was about a seven inches taller than her, blonde with blue eyes, with large breasts and tan skin. She was wearing a gown similar, if larger, to Amelia's. Amelia saw her distraction.

"N-No p-problem, listen I n-need you to c-create a d-distraction, I'll g-give you-." The girl cut her off with a raised hand.

"Sure, no problem" her nonchalant response surprised Amelia.

"B-But I didn't e-even-." Once again the girl cut her off.

"No need, this place is boring, and a hopefully whatever you're going to do will liven it up a bit, besides distractions are fun. Have fun with whatever you're going to do" The girl gave her a mischievous grin and spun around. The girl walked past an obese boy in a tee shirt and jeans, she quickly, almost imperceptibly, pushed him. The boy hit a doctor who fell into a cart of medical supplies, and the cart toppled over. Scalpels, used needles, and other medical paraphernalia fell out of their receptacles were sent rolling across the floor. Two scalpels were embedded in a doctors arm and he was screaming certain words that should never be said in a pediatric ward. The younger kids in the hall panicked and joined in, adding their screams to the mix. Kids came out of their rooms to check out the commotion, the nurse and doctors who had been around the nurses' station now rushed over to try and contain the situation.

The blonde girl flashed her one more smile before darting down the hall and out of sight.

"That girl is either scary or awesome, or both" Amelia muttered. She ran for the nurses' station and looked over the desk until she found her chart.

"Amelia Price, Miguel used Kallika's last name." Amelia stuffed the papers in her pocket and sat down at the computer. The nurse hadn't even logged out, so it was easy. She looked up the records and brought up hers.

"Aaand delete" Amelia watched the computer load and once it finished, a pop up said that the file had been deleted. Amelia took one last look at the mess that the hospital staff was trying to contain and then she was in the elevator on her way to the lobby.

When she reached the lobby, the doors opened and there stood Troy. Amelia grabbed him and began leading him forward.

"Kid, what the hell are you doing?" Troy pulled out a cigarette as Amelia dragged him by his elbow.

"C-Checking myself o-out, w-where's your c-car?" Amelia wasn't even sure where she was dragging him.

"It's in the parking lot. I was supposed to check up on you" Troy said.

"I need to get out of here, they can't get a record of me." Amelia fought her stutter, barely suppressing it.

"Fine kid, but we'll need to get you checked out by a doc later." Troy sighed in exasperation. Over the years, he had learned not to bother fighting with women, he always lost. Troy pulled his arm away from Amelia and grabbed her arm in turn. He led her towards an emergency fire exit. Once they reached the door he stopped her, reached up on the doorframe and plucked a loose wire out. Then he just pushed the door open and led her out, the alarm never went off.

"H-How did y-you know how t-to do t-that?" Amelia was surprised that Troy knew anything about tech, he just seemed like the kind of guy who couldn't program a DVR.

"Gangbanging 101" Troy responded, taking a puff of his cigarette. He led her over to a purple Destiny. Amelia got in the passenger seat and pulled on her seatbelt.

"Kid, you got a problem with hospitals or something?" Troy pulled out of the parking lot and started driving towards the Row.

"I-It's a l-l-long s-story. C-Can y-you just drop m-m-me by my p-place, p-please? " Amelia liked Troy, he had saved her life by shooting that Vice King, but she still didn't trust him with her past. She didn't trust anyone with those secrets.

"Ok kid, whatever" Troy said. The rest of the ride back to Amelia's loft passed in silence.

"T-Thanks T-Troy" Amelia said as she unbuckled herself and opened the door.

"I'll call Kallika and tell her what happened, a doc who owes us a couple of favors will be by later." Troy sped off toward the church.

Amelia went up the stairs to her apartment. She tried the door only to find it was locked, she fumbled for the keys in her pocket and unlocked the door. She tossed the paperwork from the hospital in the trash and put the scarf on her bed. Then she stripped nude, she debated whether to throw the hospital gown away, but decided to keep it. You never know when it might come in handy, she thought, so she tossed it in her closet. Finally Amelia grabbed a towel and went into her bathroom to grab a shower.

….

"Hey, wake up"

"Kallika, wake up"

"Get up, come on"

Kallika felt a hand shake her shoulder. She grabbed the pistol that was lying on the floor, and without opening her eyes, pointed it in the direction of the person who was shaking her shoulder.

"If this is not important, then walk away or I'll shoot you in your face." Kallika kept her eyes closed as she spoke.

"I was gonna tell you that Amelia snuck out of the hospital, and I took her home, but if you're gonna be like that." Kallika's eyes shot open and she saw that she had been pointing her pistol at Troy. She sat up on the couch and looked around the church. She had crashed at the church after they had finished pushing back the Carnales.

"What, how" Kallika got up and headed for the room that she and Johnny shared as an office.

"In my car, how else?" Troy replied with a straight face.

"Stay by the door, and you know what I meant." Kallika went in and saw Johnny passed out in an office chair behind the desk. The four forty ounce bottles of beer next to him implied that he would not be conscious for some time. Kallika grabbed a duffel bag from where it had been tucked in an alcove next to a smashed up statue. She had learned long ago that it was a good idea to keep a bag of essentials at the church. She took one more quick look to make sure Johnny was passed out and started stripping off her clothes.

"I don't know how she got out, I went to check on her like Julius told me and she popped out of the elevator and started draggin' me off. Kid said something about not wanting to let them get a record of her." Troy leaned against the wall outside of the office, puffing on a fresh cigarette.

"So you took her home, how was she?" Kallika tossed her old clothes in the duffel bag and pulled out a fresh pair of skinny jeans and a tee shirt.

"Well, I didn't exactly give her a full exam, but she was upright and talking, so I figure she's okay." Troy took another puff, he thought of taking a peek, but the last guy who did that limped away with four cracked ribs and a broken shoulder.

"Good, give Gonzales a call and have him come by to check her out. I'll go pick her up and bring her over." Kallika pulled on tee shirt, it was a few sizes too small so it was very tight on her and ended just above her belly button.

"Um, I don't think you need to do that." Troy said looking around the corner into the main hall of the church.

"Why, I don't care if she looks ok, she needs to get some meds for that wound." Kallika looked into her compact as she put on some crimson lipstick.

"No, I mean that you don't need to pick her up"

"Why" Kallika said as she brushed out her hair.

"Because she's standing by the altar." Troy looked at Amelia, who was standing on the steps in front of the altar looking around. She looked better than she had at the hospital. She was wearing a dark blue tee shirt with some kind of cartoon character on the front, jeans, and tennis shoes. Her hair looked wet like she had just showered and her purple scarf was hung loosely around her neck.

Kallika tossed the duffel bag back where she had gotten it from and walked out of the room.

"Oh my god, Baby Girl, I'm so sorry about last night. I should have been there." Kallie wrapped Amelia in a hug, pulling the smaller girl's head tight against her chest. Amelia said something, but it was muffled by Kallie's chest.

"Oh, sweetie, I'm sorry, what did you say?" Kallie pulled away slightly and looked down at Amelia.

"I said that I couldn't breathe, you were smothering me." Amelia took a deep breath while she blushed. So that's marshmallow hell, she thought.

"Oh, sorry Baby Girl, how did you get here by the way?" Kallika asked, Troy laughed, but stopped when Kallika gave him a subarctic glare.

"I-I w-walked, i-i-it's not that f-far from m-my apartment, and w-why a-are you s-sorry? I w-was the o-o-one stupid enough t-to get s-shot." Amelia felt ashamed, like she had disappointed Kallie by getting shot.

"Sweetie, that wasn't your fault. You shouldn't have been sent there in the first place." Kallie tightened her hug again, careful to turn Amelia's head this time so she wasn't smothered.

"W-Why n-not, I-I'm a S-Saint, t-that's p-part of i-it." Amelia was glad to hear Kallie say that it wasn't her fault, but didn't get what she meant by saying that she shouldn't have been sent.

"I know Baby Girl, but-" Kallie stopped mid sentence when she saw Dex and Julius walk in. Kallika let go of Amelia and started off for Dex.

"Sup Kal-" Kallika slammed her fist into Dex's face, nearly sending him to floor had he not caught himself on a pillar.

"You crazy bit-" Dex was cut off again by the impact of Kallika's elbow into his stomach.

"You got Amy shot, I told you that she wasn't to go on any jobs that I wasn't a part of. She is way too green to be going on raids like that without backup. You could have gotten her killed." Kallika sent another punch slamming into Dex's jaw.

"Damn, girl, I didn't send her in without backup, I sent our third best enforcer with her. We needed to push the Carnales out and they were available. She's a Saint, it's part of the fucking deal. This isn't the fucking girl scouts." Dex did his best to block Kallika's strikes, but didnn't attempt to actually fight back. Julius sighed in exasperation and walked past them with his hand on his forehead shaking his head. He walked up to where Amelia was standing.

"Miguel told me about last night, you did good playa." Julius put a hand on her shoulder. he was wearing jeans, another purple shirt, and the black leather beret and jacket that seemed to be a constant part of his ensembles.

"Umm, t-t-thanks, s-shouldn't someone s-stop t-t-them?" Amelia looked past Julius, where Kallika was still beating the shit out of Dex while berating him.

"Nah, best for her to get it out of her system, this sort of thing happens every other week or so with them." Julius looked back at the two.

"S-So why i-isn't he f-fighting b-back?" Amelia winced as Kallika sent Dex to the ground with a knee to the crotch.

"Because the last time he fought back, he walked away with one less tooth and a dislocated shoulder. Dex is a smart kid and a good shot, but he can't fight worth shit up close. Plus Kallika's the second best enforcer we got, Dex just doesn't seem to get that he shouldn't piss her off. Sorry about you gettin' shot playa, but it happens. Like I said, you did good last night." Julius walked past her and towards the back of the church.

"He's right kid, just wait it out." Troy pulled out a pack of cigarettes, tore the plastic off of them, and smacked the box against his hand.

"I-I g-guess" Amelia said as she sat down on the steps and pulled out her phone. She brought up twitter and started scrolling through feeds, trying to ignore Dex's grunts and Kallika's berating. A thought occurred to her and she typed 'Vice Kings' into the search bar. To her surprise a feed showed up, she scrolled down, checking out all the tweets, then she tried 'Rollerz', another feed came up and she checked this one out. Finally she put in 'Los Carnales', and yet another feed came up.

"G-Guys" she said seeing one consistency among the links. Kallika and Dex didn't seem to notice. Troy looked down at her.

"G-Guys" she said again, still they ignored her.

"Guys" She screamed at the top of her lungs.

"What's wrong honey?" Kallie looked at her, eyes filled with concern. Dex struggled against the sleeper hold that Kallika had him in.

"You should really see this" Amelia said weakly, suddenly embarrassed at her outburst. Kallika dropped Dex to the ground, unconscious, and walked over to where Amelia was sitting. Troy stomped out his cigarette and joined her.

"What's goin' on?" Julius came out, investigating the yelling.

"Amelia wants us to see something" Troy responded. Julius joined the small group forming around Amelia. She was suddenly very aware that all eyes were on her.

"The Twitter feeds for the other gangs are blowing up about some kind of fight at the docks." Amelia barely managed to finish the sentence without stuttering. She handed the phone to Julius, who took one look at it and passed it to Troy, who actually checked the feeds.

"She's right, if we crash their party, we can take all those sons of bitches out at once." Troy handed Amelia her phone back.

"Alright who do we got?" Julius looked at Troy.

"Most of our people are out locking down Athos Bay. Johnny's passed out drunk, and Kallika knocked out Dex." Troy gestured to where Dex was laying.

"Alright, Kallika, head down to Athos bay and get a crew together. Amelia, you, Troy, and me are gonna go get the party started." Julius pulled an NR4 out of his jacket.

"Oh no, she just got out of the hospital, you are not dragging her off into a four way gang bang without me." Kallika crossed her arms and glared at Julius.

"We're gonna need more guys if we're gonna wipe these muthafuckas out, and you're the only lieutenant that we got free." Julius gestured towards the unconscious Dex.

"So send Troy" Kallika said belligerently.

"Goddamnit girl this ain't a democracy, get your ass down there, get a crew together, and meet us down at the docks." Julius returned the glare just as fiercely. For a few seconds Amelia thought that Kallika was going to do the same to Julius as she had done to Dex, but finally Kallika dropped her arms and relented.

"Fine, but you better keep her safe." Kallika stormed off, pulling out her own pistol as she stepped over Dex.

"Hope you're strapped, playa, cause we're about to go in hard." Julius led her out of the church with Troy in tow.

"Umm, n-no, I a-actually don't h-have m-my guns on m-me." Amelia assumed that Miguel had them.

"Fine, what's your preference?" Julius reached into his jacket.

"Uh, I use m-my S-Spree or m-my NR4." Amelia found that Julius made her even more nervous than usual when he was up close. He just exuded a sort of expectation that she did not want to disappoint.

"Here, Troy, take any of the crew that are around the church in your car, the kid and I will take my car." To Amelia's surprise, Julius took a T3K Urban out of his jacket, followed by an NR4 and handed them to Amelia. Troy went towards the cemetery where a few saints were sitting on gravestones. Julius led Amelia to the front of the church where his Zenith was parked. Amelia slid the pistol into her waistband and slid into the passenger seat of the sports car.

"H-How many w-weapons d-do you h-have in t-t-there?" Amelia said as she buckled her seatbelt.

"Two more NR4s, a VICE, one more Urban, and three switchblades in my jacket, up my sleeve, and in an ankle sheath." Julius floored the accelerator.

"W-What a-a-are y-you s-scared o-of?" How does he even fit that many guns into his jacket, Amelia thought.

"Not a god damn thing, like I said playa, no one's makin' this nigga scared to walk the Row." He's a natural leader, Amelia thought. Julius practically oozed charisma.

"Playa, I've been in the game for close to thirty five years now, I'm goin' on fifty. You want to know how you get to be a fifty year old gang banger?" For a man his age, Julius drives like a twenty two year old frat boy in a street race, on speed, Amelia thought as she held onto the Urban with one hand and gripped the seat with the other. Julius ignored signals and signs, drifted through turns, weaved through traffic, drove on the sidewalk where he couldn't weave, and his speedometer never dropped below seventy.

"How" Amelia said as she saw gates of the docks coming up quickly.

"Head down and brace against the dash" Julius screamed as he slammed on the brakes, Amelia did as she was told as the car spun to a stop. Bullets raked the side of the car, shattering the driver's side window, and flying over Amelia's head. Julius pointed his NR4 out the window and leveled a shot at a Vice King firing an Urban, sending a bullet through the King's eye.

"Out of the car, stay low, take cover behind the engine block, not the doors." Julius let out three more rounds from his NR4 and then he was out of the car rushing behind a dumpster. Amelia did as she was told once more, opening the door and dropping to a crouch as she got out, the noise of the car door slamming shut drew some more fire towards her and she could hear bullets impacting off of the side of the car opposite to her. She moved forward and crouched behind the engine block as Julius had told her.

Amelia peeked her head out and got a good look at the chaos that had engulfed the docks. There were dozens of people in red, blue, and yellow. Some were shooting submachine guns, shotguns, or assault rifles at others. A few were even tossing Molotov cocktails, she recognized them form Grand Theft Auto. Most of the bangers were engaged in brawls with knives, bats, and fists, or short ranged gunfights with pistols. Amelia was biting back fear, all of the other fights that she had been in since joining the Saints seemed so much smaller than this. Amelia pulled her head back down and looked over at the dumpster where Julius was in cover, taking careful calculated shots every few seconds, each time he fired, another member of the enemy gangs went down with a fresh bullet hole in their chest or head.

Amelia heard the roar of an engine approaching, a red Betsy with two Carnales in the cab and three in the bed came screaming in through the same gate that she and Julius had come in. She fired her Urban at the truck, a knee jerk reaction, not really aiming. She got lucky and the driver took several rounds and slumped over, sending the turning truck into a roll that ended with a deafening metal crunch as the truck landed upside down in a loading dock. The Carnales that held on in the truck bed were crushed by the rolling metal death machine, those that did not hold on were flung into a warehouse wall. Their bodies made a sickening thud as they were smashed against the concrete.

The commotion drew attention in her direction again and Amelia hit the concrete to avoid the incoming fire. She let out a small yelp as her wound from the night before impacted on the concrete. Then she heard the shattering of glass and looked over to see that a Molotov cocktail had landed fairly close to her, then another one came down, this one even closer. Amelia felt fear and adrenaline consume her, she got up and ran as fast as she could over to a spot behind a semi trailer, firing her Urban as she ran. Her shots managed to catch a few of the clumps of brawlers, taking a few out.

Troy's purple Destiny came flying through the gates, Saints leaned out the window firing pistols and submachine guns. The car came to a stop and the saints darted out, scrambling to find cover. Troy slipped behind the dumpster in front of Julius and pulled out his .44 Shepherd. The Saints kept pushing forward and the number of other gang members was dwindling. Amelia moved up to hide behind a crate near five Rollers. She saw one light a Molotov cocktail, as he was about to throw it, Amelia popped up and emptied the remaining rounds in her clip into his chest. The Roller dropped the flaming bottle as he fell, the bottle smashed to the ground and fire exploded forth from it, lighting the Roller's comrades on fire and sending them running and screaming until the other Saints put them down.

"What did I tell ya Troy, the kid's a natural" Julius yelled. Amelia turned back towards the gate as she heard several car engines coming closer. She pointed the Urban in the direction of the gate, but it was not more Carnales, or Kings, or Rollers. Instead a dozen purple cars and trucks pulled in. She immediately recognized Miguel's massive Bulldog and Kallika's sleek Zomkah. Dozens of Saints poured out of the cars, rushing forth and firing on the remaining enemy gangs. Amelia felt a hand on her shoulder as she stood from where she had been crouched behind the crate. She turned around and saw Kallika standing behind her with five other saints.

From there it was more of a slaughter than a fight as the Saints purged the remaining gangs from the docks, and before Amelia knew it, it was over. Amelia found herself standing next to Kallika at the end of the docks opposite from where they had started. Julius walked up to where she was standing.

"Great job playa, the Row is ours again. Don't think I'm finished with you yet. I'm holding a meeting at the church in about two hours, swing by if you can." Julius then walked off to talk to some other Saints.

"You okay, Baby Girl" Kallie asked as she slipped an arm around Amelia. Amelia was speechless for a minute, the panic and the adrenalin that had moved her through the fight was gone now, leaving her exhausted. She noticed details that she hadn't during the fight. She got a better look at all of the corpses, all of the blood that now covered the ground. She saw a young woman in blue lying on the ground close to her, the head was bashed in beyond recognition and bits of the woman's skull and grey matter sat in the puddle of blood forming around her from the multiple gunshots she had taken to the chest. The stench of burning flesh filled her nose, coming from the bodies that had been hit with Molotov cocktails.

Amelia felt her knees buckle out from under her. She was grateful that Kallie realized what was happening and held back her hair, because once she was on her knees she emptied the contents of her stomach onto the concrete. As she wretched out the last of the bile the world began to fade away and she began to fall onto her side.

The last thing Amelia felt before she completely lost consciousness was Kallie wrapping her arms around her to catch her.


	4. Pizza, Lesbians, Partying, and Bonding

Amelia felt a pain in her right side, drawing her back into consciousness. She was slumped in a leather office chair. Glancing down she saw that the pain was from the barrel of a Krukov that was leaning against the chair and digging obnoxiously into her ribs. Amelia sat up and looked around, waking up without knowing where she was for the second time in twenty four hours.

She was behind a desk that had several empty beer bottles on it, the walls around her were covered in Aisha posters, and a gun rack with several weapons sat on top of a table against the wall to her left. She recognized the crumbling masonry and realized she was in the church.

The last thing she remembered was puking her guts out. They must have brought her back here after the fight. Amelia thought back at the entirety of the fight, she remembered the panic that had consumed her, the smell of burning flesh and the sight of that woman's smashed in skull would haunt her memory for a long time.

The thing that disturbed her most though was the fact that she didn't feel sad or ashamed of any of the killing. She felt ashamed that she had embarrassed Kallie by puking and apparently passing out. Despite what Kallie had told her, the fact that she felt nothing when she killed people scared her. She really wasn't quite sure how to handle that.

"Ah, glad you're awake Baby Girl" Kallie said kindly as she walked into the room, she had a paper plate with three slices pizza and a plastic fork in her hand.

"I-I'm r-r-really sorry f-for embarrassing y-yo-" Kallie cut Amelia off with a finger to her lips and gave her a gentle smile.

"You didn't embarrass me sweetie, it's happened to the best of us. Hell up until he was sixteen, Johnny fainted at the sight of blood. Pizza?" Kallie's smile turned into a grin at the memory of the Asian psychopath as a lanky teenager passing out at the sight of a bloody tampon in the garbage can at Freckle Bitch's .

"S-Sure" Amelia said, very relieved that Kallie wasn't pissed. She had quickly developed a fear of disappointing or angering the older woman. Kallie took the fork, slid it under the cheese of the pizza, and peeled it off, leaving the cheese on the plate. She handed the freshly skinned slice to Amelia.

"T-Thanks, how did y-you know t-that I like my pizza w-with the cheese p-p-peeled off?" Amelia took the slice and immediately took a bite out of it, hungry from her recently emptied stomach.

"Oh, lucky guess" Kallie said, her smile never slipped as she forced her thoughts away from Lara. Amelia accepted the answer without question, simply putting it down to Kallie's incredibleness.

"W-What time i-is it?" Amelia asked, wondering how long she had been out. It had been around noon when she had gotten to the church, and the fight at the docks had taken about an hour and a half.

"Around five thirty, you were out for about four hours, Baby girl. After you passed out we took you back here..I wanted you to sleep it off in peace and no way in hell was I wasn't going to leave you on a couch in the middle of a church full of gang bangers." Kallie took a bite of her own pizza, she trusted all the Saints, but men were men and you didn't leave passed out girls in the middle of a group of them.

"T-Thanks Kallie" Amelia was glad to have someone she could really trust watching out for her.

"No problem Baby Girl. Now finish your pizza, people are getting here and Julius is going to start his speech soon."

Amelia and Kallie polished off the pizza fairly quickly, and made their way into the main hall of the church. For the next thirty minutes, Kallie mingled while Amelia just tried to stay close to her.

Despite her best efforts to stay invisible Kallie kept dragging her into conversations, forcing the wall flower to actually converse with people. A few people cracked jokes about her puking and passing out on the docks, but they kept it good natured. People were even swapping stories of their own embarrassing moments during fights, Amelia found herself joining in on the laughter as her embarrassment faded.

Several Saints talked about how she had done in her canonization and how she had shot the Roller with the Molotov cocktail and torched an entire group. The Black woman that she recognized from her canonization walked over, clapped her on the back, told her how awesome she had been at the docks. The woman handed her a Bacardi Silver Peach out of the six pack she had in her hand before moving on. Amelia looked at Kallie, feeling the need for her approval. Kallie nodded and Amelia twisted open the bottle, the first sip of alcohol tasting sweet and citrusy on her lips. Amelia was honestly starting to enjoy herself. Just as the last time, the entire room went silent when Julius stepped up in front of the altar to speak.

"Listen up people. I got some serious shit to discuss while we're all still sober. Yeah, we cleared out the Row. You think for a second that's gonna stop 'em? Unless we wipe all these muthafuckas out, they're gonna keep comin', and they ain't gonna be happy. It ain't gonna be settled until the Carnales, the Rollerz, and the Vice Kings ain't nothin' but a memory." A series of cheers came in response to Julius's proclamation. Julius raised a hand and the room went silent once more. Julius pointed at Dex, who still sported several bruises from the beat down that Kallika had given him.

"Dex, you got the Carnales. Ever since they hooked up with the Colombians it's like they own this town, and with that drug money rolling in, we can't compete. Be smart on how you move against 'em. The Lopez family been runnin' that gang for thirty years. There's a reason they still around." Dex looked smug, like the assignment was a compliment to his intelligence.

"Got it" he said. Julius shifted his gaze over to Troy.

"Troy, you're dealing with the Vice Kings." Troy shook his head.

"Not a chance" He said as he lit a fresh cigarette.

"Fuck you say?" Julius sent a glare his way.

"Anyone but them." Troy appeared unperturbed by Julius's glare and merely shrugged his shoulders.

"You scared of going against Benjamin King" Julius asked with a hint of contempt, clearly an attempt to goad him into it. Before Troy responded, the Asian that she now knew as Johnny Gat shoved his way through the crowd.

"Man, fuck that, I'll take King out" Johnny declared, his words were undercut with that confident grin that he seemed to have on his face continuously.

"Johnny, it's not that simple." Julius looked at the Asian doubtfully.

"Bullets still kill muthafucka's, right? Doesn't get much simpler than that" Johnny spoke like it was the most obvious fact in the world. Julius shook his head and turned back to Dex

"Keep an eye on ya boy." Johnny looked furious at Julius's statement.

"I don't need a fuckin' babysitter Julius" Johnny called out angrily.

"Keep an eye on ya boy." There was steel in Julius's voice now, making even Johnny back off.

"Who's got the Rollerz?" Dex looked like he expected Julius to have him involved in that too.

"I do" Amelia turned to see an Asian woman with black hair done up in a lotus style held up with chopsticks. She wore a black leather zip-up top, blue pants, and black tennis shoes. She was quite well toned, with a modest bust and looked to be about five feet and ten inches.

"Lin, the fuck you wearin' blue for" Johnny asked.

"I asked Lin to hook up with the Rollerz. We don't know much about these fuckas, so I wanted one of us on the inside." The idea made sense to Amelia, though she thought that if she could get a few names, she could probably find out a lot about the gangs.

"I didn't know the Rollerz pimped hos." A White guy in a purple hoody with a goatee took a step toward Lin, laughing at his own jab. Lin responded without missing a beat, she sent him to the ground with a hard punch. _She must hit hard_, Amelia thought, though Lin did throw her shoulder a bit too much, she'd noticed.

"Any other comments?" Lin looked around, all the males around her suddenly gave her a wide birth. Amelia had to admit she was impressed, the woman reminded her of Kallika.

"Yeah, when you punch, don't throw your shoulder so much." Johnny seemed to be the only male near Lin who didn't have any level of fear of her. Amelia expected him to receive a similar fate to the first heckler, but Lin just shook her head.

"Shut up, Johnny" Lin said and flashed her middle finger in his direction.

"Hey, I'm just sayin'." Johnny spread his arms with an innocent grin. Julius raised his hands again, regaining the attention of the room.

"Alright. tomorrow when we're all sober again, talk to one of these guys. They'll have something for you to do. It's our time now. Let's get this shit started." A roar of applause came from the crowd and Julius stepped down from the altar. The crowd quickly returned to conversation and liquor. The Asian woman, Lin, approached Kallie.

"Hey babe" Kallie grabbed the other woman by her hips and pulled her into an embrace. Lin responded by wrapping her arms around Kallie. To Amelia's shock, Kallie leaned into the asian and planted her crimson painted lips on Lin's. It started as a slow gentle kiss, but it quickly progressed. That kiss became rougher, more intense, and more passionate.

Kallie slid her hands further around Lin hips and groped the other woman's ass playfully. Their hips started to grind against each other and their tongues danced in each other's mouths. their tongues pushed out against each others' cheeks as they struggled for dominance.

Amelia stared without meaning to, transfixed by the display of love and lust between the two women. The spontaneous lesbian make out session didn't even faze the Saints around them. Finally, they pulled away from each other. Kallie settled her hand on Lin's left hip and turned to face Amelia. Amelia, suddenly very aware and embarrassed of her gawking and she quickly dropped her gaze to the floor as her cheeks turned bright red.

"Sorry Amy, I completely forgot to introduce you two. Lin, this is Amelia, our newest recruit for the Saints. Amy this is Lin, another lieutenant for the saints and my girlfriend." Amelia forced her gaze up from the floor to look at Lin and nervously brushed the bangs out of her eyes.

"N-N-Nice t-to m-m-meet y-you" Amelia said in a meek, quiet voice. Lin gave her a weird look for a second, then gave a quick response and turned back to Kallie.

"You too, listen 'Lika, I have to talk to Julius about some things with the Rollerz, I'll talk to you later." Lin and Kallie kissed once again, this time just a quick peck on the lips before Lin disappeared into the crowd. Amelia took another drink out of her Bacardi and wished she could disappear. She knew that she had blown her first meeting with Lin. The revelation that Kallie was gay added confusion to her shame she'd just never pictured Kallie as a lesbian and the display had caught her by surprise.

"You okay sweetie? You look a little freaked. Don't worry about Lin. She can come off as a cold bitch sometimes but she's really nice when you get to know her." Kallie noticed little details, the way Amelia started twisting and twirling one of the strands of her hair, the way she shifted from foot to foot, the way she let her bangs fall back in front of her eyes. It didn't take her degree in psychology to understand that the girl was very nervous. An obvious thought popped into Kallie's head.

"Seeing me and Lin kiss didn't make you uncomfortable, did it?" Kallie asked in a gentle tone, she didn't want to come across as accusatory but the thought that the girl might disapproved bothered her.. _Amelia can't be homophobic_, Kallie thought, the girl just seemed too… too innocent to have any real prejudices.

Amelia was already flustered "W-What, n-no, of c-c-course n-not, I'm n-not, I-I m-mean, i-it j-just s-s-surprised m-me is a-all." Amelia's nervousness turned to outright fear, she didn't want Kallie to think that she was some kind of radical homophobe. Amelia didn't even think about sex often, much less homosexuality.

"I'm full of surprises Baby Girl. Now, let's see who you haven't met yet." Kallie let her easy going smile return to her face to soothe the poor girl. Amelia now seemed more flustered than ever and Kallie couldn't help feeling guilty for causing Amy's anxiety. She wrapped an arm around Amelia and began guiding her towards another group of Saints.

Six hours and several cases of alcohol later, the party finally let up and people started leaving. Those still relatively sober walked out of the church to their cars that were almost all surrounded by groups of drunken friends looking to catch rides. Several who were too drunk to drive but still upright began stumbling and staggering down the sidewalks toward their homes to sleep off their drunkenness. Those who weren't done partying started an uneven trek toward bars to delve into even deeper level of inebriation. The Saints who didn't leave merely remained where they had already passed out on couches or pews or even the stone floor.

Amelia was drunk, extremely drunk. She had not bothered to think about how much alcohol she had been consuming, she had merely drank whatever had been placed in her hand. Currently she lay on one of the old, ratty, couches that were spread around the main room of the church. She had no idea how she had gotten there and she felt far too tire to move.

She heard a muffled voice, but couldn't comprehend the words. Through her half closed eyes she saw a large shadow loom over her and the voice came again, still too muffled for her to understand. She tried to say something, but the words that came out were as understandable as the babbling of a newborn This made her laugh, for some reason her own incomprehensible speech seemed hilarious to her now. She lifted an arm to try and touch the shadow but all she felt was empty air. That too was hilarious.

Kallie looked down at Amelia's supine form. She had tried rousing the girl twice now, but she got no reaction except for babbling and a little hand waving. Amelia was obviously beyond drunk. Kallie felt a mild pang of guilt. She knew that she should have been watching closer, the girl was clearly a first time drinker and had no tolerance whatsoever. She had been drinking hard liquor like water.

Kallie on the other hand was a veteran partier with a high tolerance and had limited herself to what she knew she could handle. Kallie let out a sigh and slid her hands under the girl's knees and upper back and picked her up. Amielia immediately wrapped her arms around Kallie's neck and laid her head against Kallie's chest. Amelia was incredibly light, the girl couldn't have weighed more than eighty pounds, making her easy to carry for an athletic woman like Kallie.

Kallie carried the girl to her Zomkah, set her in the passenger seat, and buckled her in. Kallie hopped into the driver's seat and turned the ignition. _Should I take her to her place or my place,_ Kallie thought. Kallie was worried about exactly how much alcohol that Amelia had drank. That and she knew that more than a few drinks at the party had been spiked. Finally Kallie decided to simply take her back to her place, just in case.

Twenty minutes later, she was pulling up in front of her apartment in Somerset. Kallie hopped out and walked around the car. Amelia was completely unconscious now but her breathing was fairly steadily. Kallie unbuckled the seat belt and scooped Amelia up again. She carried Amelia up the stairs to her front door and shifted Amelia over her shoulder so that she could use her free hand to open her door.

She carried Amelia inside and closed the door behind her. Kallie looked around her living room and pondered placing Amelia on the couch. Then she decided against it. She carried Amelia up the stairs and passed the door to her bedroom. Kallie stopped at a white door covered in anime and cartoon stickers, she grabbed the door handle but for a full minute she hesitated. She rarely entered this room except to clean, she still hadn't worked up the strength to clean it out. She took a deep breath, twisted the knob pushed the door open, and turned on the dim lights.

The room was painted midnight blue with a white ceiling and white floor molding. The bed was covered with a Raven comforter, dark blue pillows, and several stuffed animals. An old wooden chest sat at the end of the bed and a small table with a lamp on it sat at the side of the bed.

The walls and ceiling had posters of bands, TV shows, cartoons, and video games plastered all over them. A flat screen TV sat in a cubby hole in the wall in front of the bed and next to the the T.V was an open closet in which several dark colored shirts could be seen hanging. A desk was pushed up against the wall opposite to the door, it sat between two full book shelves and had several comic books, figurines, and cups containing various markers, pens, and pencils on it.

Kallie laid Amelia gently down on the bed. First she pulled off the small girl's shoes, then her socks, then her pants. She carefully unwound the girl's scarf and stripped off Amelia's shirt. all of which she folded up and set neatly on the chest, leaving Amelia in a plain white training bra, the bandages covering her bullet wound, and white panties with a small light pink ribbon above the crotch.

Kallie turned and went to the closet. She bit back a few tears as she looked at all of Lara's old clothes. She knew that she couldn't just leave Amelia half naked. So she grabbed a black nightshirt with a winged purple pony wearing a flak jacket, holding a K6 Krukov, and with a combat knife in its teeth sitting on the front. Kallie hugged it and a tear ran down her cheek, it had been Lara's favorite.

The picture of Lara laying in front of the TV, wearing the shirt, watching Saturday morning cartoons forced itself to the forefront of her mind. Kallie forced the image out of her mind, like always, and turned around to where Amelia lay. Kallie slowly raised the limp girl into a sitting position and gently raised the girl's arms pulling the night shirt down over her, it fit perfectly. The girl stirred slightly and gave a small murmur as the shirt slipped over her head.

"Shh, sweetie, it's alright. Just go back to sleep" Kallie said as she laid the girl back down and smoothed out the nightshirt so that it went down to Amelia's knees.

Kallie picked Amelia up once more and pulled back the dark blue comforter, blanket, and sheets. She laid Amelia down as gently as she could, letting the girl's head slowly come to rest on the pillows. Kallie pulled the blankets back up until they sat just below Amelia's chin. Kallie then slid the girl's glasses off and set them on the bedside table. Finally, Kallie brushed the hair out of the girl's face and planted a kiss on Amelia's forehead. She then turned around and walked back towards the door. She stopped and grabbed the dimmer switch for the lights. she took one last look at Amelia, she looked just like Lara tucked into bed like that. Kallie shook herself out of her memories, turned off the lights, and went to have one quick glass of Beaujolais before bed.

….

Amelia woke to a pounding in her head and she let out a moan of pain. She felt like her brain was throbbing against her skull. Amelia rolled over and clutched her octopus tightly. Between the headache and the fact that her mouth felt dry as the Sahara, she felt like hell. Amelia hugged the stuffed animal tighter and tried to force herself back to sleep. It was her failure to manage this that led her to notice that the stuffed animal she was clutching was not an octopus.

She slowly forced open her eyes, finding only darkness. Amelia rolled over to flick on the lamp that sat on her bedside table, only to find it wasn't where it always was. She felt around and found the lamp. She immediately wished she hadn't, the sudden stimuli only made her head explode in fresh pain and she screwed her eyes shut again.

After another two minutes, she felt pressure building on her bladder. She forced herself to push off the covers and drag herself to her feet. She started shuffling forward and quickly ran into a wall. That didn't feel right, but the pounding in her skull kept her from really thinking straight and she was too focused on the pressure building in her bladder to care.

She fumbled along the wall until she found the door. She opened it and stepped out of the room. She was in a short hallway and there were three doors, one at the end of the hall and in the wall behind her, she ignored most of these details and focused on the door at the end of the hall where she assumed the bathroom would be. She stumbled down the hall, constantly supporting herself against the wall. She had no balance whatsoever.

She fumbled for the knob and opened the door, just as she had thought, it was a bathroom. She entered and pulled up her nightshirt, surprised to find herself wearing the panties that she had been wearing the day before. She never wore underwear to bed. Still focused on the fact that she now felt that she was about to soak her panties, she pulled them down and sat down on the toilet. The release of the pressure on her bladder felt nearly orgasmic. Once she finished, she wiped herself and pulled up her panties.

Amelia stood and saw a glass sitting next to the sink, her next priorities were the cotton mouth and headache she felt. She gripped the edged of the sink for support and grabbed the glass, filling it until it was brimming with water. She opened the medicine cabinet and found a bottle of what looked like painkillers. Amelia forced herself to actually read the labeling and found that they were indeed Tylenol PM.

She wasn't sure what time it was, but she knew that she would much rather sleep through whatever she was going through at that moment. She couldn't open it for a second due to the child safety cap, but finally managed to get the lid off and coax two tablets out of the bottle. She tossed them in her mouth and chugged the glass of water. Amelia set the glass back down again and stumbled back out.

She followed the wall using both hands, her eyes half closed once more to keep from exposing herself to too much more light and risk making her headache worse. She found the door she had come out of and walked back into the room, pushing the door closed behind her. She staggered her way forward until she felt the bed, which she immediately fell onto. Amelia crawled over the bed and flicked off the lamp, returning the room to complete darkness.

She let herself collapse back into the spot on the bed where she had woken up. Amelia pulled the covers back up, this time going all the way over her head. She grabbed the stuffed animal that she had woken up clutching and pulled it tight against her small frame, curling up into the fetal position around it. Finally, she was able to drift off into a dreamless sleep.

Three hours later, Amelia's eyes slowly slipped open. The headache was still there, but not the pounding aneurysm that it had been. Her mouth still felt dryer than the Middle East though. Amelia pushed off the covers and stood once more, immediately sitting back down. Her balance was still gone and standing made her feel nauseous.

She flicked on the lamp, grabbed her glasses, and looked around to get her bearings. Amelia took in the details that she had ignored before. She immediately knew she was in was not in her apartment. The room was painted in dark blue tones that she liked along with the white floor moulding. The posters that covered the walls and ceiling were of TV shows, bands, videogames, and movies that she liked. She looked at the desk that sat near the bed, the figurines were mostly DC, but there were a few Marvel statuettes too. The comic books were all DC, except for a Runaways book. Amelia personally preferred Marvel, they had better heroines in her opinion.

Amelia also noticed that she was not wearing her usual nightshirt, it fit her too well, the collar didn't slip down her shoulder like her tee did. Instead it hung close around her collarbone. The sleeves also ended halfway down her upper arm unlike her tee's which hung down to her forearms. The entire thing was also tighter, it actually sat on her like a shirt instead of hanging on her like a drape.

She looked down at it, it was black and had a My Little Pony parody image on the front. She looked at the bookshelves, she saw a lot of authors that she liked, Patterson, Carter, Riordan, Smith. Next she peeked in the open closet, the clothes were all in the darker reds, blues, grays, greens, and blacks that she preferred over bright pastel colors. Amelia looked back at the bed, the bedspread was all themed after Raven of the Teen Titans, one of the few DC heroines that she liked.

There was one thing that she just kept noticing, everything from the bedspread, to the books, was something that seemed like something that she would have, but she knew that she didn't have any of those things.

She tried once again to stand and this time the room didn't spin. She grabbed the office chair and pulled it out from under the desk. Amelia sat down and began to go through the desk. She knew that she needed to know where she was, her last memory was passing out on a couch in the church but she was very curious about this room that seemed like it was tailored to fit her.

She opened the first drawer. It held markers, paints, and various art supplies. She opened the second drawer, USBs, pencils, a few notebooks that she was curious about but she decided to finish going through the desk before checking the notebooks. Amelia pulled open the third drawer, a pocket knife, a painting of some kind, and… yes, a photo album. It was a black binder with a photo taped to the front. The photo was obviously a family photo, it looked like it was taken on some beach. Two white adults, a man and a woman, both brunettes, and two kids, both girls, one was black, one was white. The white girl was young, she looked to be about five, she had brunette hair done into pigtails and she wore glasses. The Black girl was older, maybe eight or nine years older than the younger girl, and had black hair in a tight ponytail.

Amelia opened the binder, more pictures of the black girl, of the adults that she could assume to be the parents and of the white girl, all of them getting progressively older. About a third of the way through, the parents stopped appearing. After that it was just pictures of the girls. the white girl was always alone or with the black girl. The Black girl on the other hand had pictures of herself with a variety of other teenagers , as well as singles. She took a closer look at a picture of the white girl and the black girl together. The black girl had her arms wrapped around the smaller white girl, it was taken on a pier with the ocean in the background. This one was near the end, taken when the white girl looked about twelve. Amelia was dazed, the white girl looked exactly like her but that didn't make any sense.

Amelia forced herself to close her eyes and try to think clearly She took a deep breath in and out, and looked back at the photo. The girl looked very similar. They were roughly the same size, the hair was the same mousy brown, the same stormy grey eyes, same pale skin tone, but the girl's nose was slightly larger and the eyes were a bit farther apart. The girl had also been starting to develop, unlike Amelia. Then Amelia took a closer look at the black girl and she suddenly realized it was Kallie. She'd been younger, a bit less obviously attractive, but definitely Kallie.

Amelia immediately closed the album, put it back where she'd found it, and closed the drawer. She then stood and pushed the chair back under the desk. It didn't take someone with her level of I.Q. to know that she had to be in Kallie's home, and she felt like she had just seen something that Kallie wouldn't want her to see.

Amelia was smart enough to know that the white girl was Kallie's younger sister, and she was smart enough to catch the story in the album. Kallie had a younger sister, probably a half sister due to their different skin colors, and when Kallie was somewhere between seventeen and eighteen, the parents died. Kallie then had to take care of her sister, and then sometime when Kallie was around twenty one or twenty two, something had happened to the younger sister.

Most likely the girl had died or was in a coma since the bedroom appeared untouched. This room probably acted as a memorial. Suddenly she heard the doorknob begin to turn. Amelia immediately sat on the bed, trying to hide the fact that she had gone through the desk.

"Hey Baby Girl, you up?" Kallie opened the door, she was wearing khaki Capri's and a green and white polo. She also had a first aid kit in her hand. She looked at Amelia, sitting on the bed, trying her best not to look agitated.

"Y-Yes" Amelia kept her eyes to the dark blue carpet. She felt like the second that Kallie saw her eyes she would know what Amelia had seen.

"How are you feeling hon? You had a lot to drink last night and some of it could have been spiked." Kallie moved to sit on the bed next to her, a gentle smile on her lips.

"S-Shitty, I-I'd n-never drank b-before" Amelia replied honestly, the headache was still there, her mouth was still dry as hell, and she still felt nauseous. She allowed herself to lean into Kallie's frame when the older girl pulled her in and Amelia rested her head on Kallie's shoulder. Her muscles thanked her for the relief, she'd slept heavily but her body was still exhausted.

"Your first time drunk and your first hangover, I'm so glad I got to be here to share these special moments with you." Kallie let out a good natured chuckle and cuddled the girl against herself.

"Yeah, s-so a-am I" Amelia said, trying to force happiness into her voice. A thousand thoughts ran through her head, but it all boiled down to one. Was Kallie replacing her younger sister with her? It seemed like it answered every question she's had about the older woman's kindness so far. What had made Kallie stop her that night? Amelia looked extremely similar to her younger sister. Why had Kallie risked her own life to protect Amelia on that street corner? Kallie had been already associating Amelia with her younger sister. Why had Kallie been so quick to show affection for her? Because she had already begun replacing her younger sister with Amelia. Why was Kallie so protective of her? because she had lost her younger sister once and didn't want it to happen again. She wondered if Kallie even saw Amelia as herself, or just the ghost of the sister she'd lost..

The scary thing was, she wasn't sure if she cared.

Amelia liked being Kallie's baby sister. She liked the attention, the affection, and the kindness that Kallie showed her. It was more than anyone else had ever shown her. She felt closer to Kallie after these few days than she had felt with her father after over a decade. Did it really matter what Kallie's reasons were? Amelia wasn't sure if it did.

"Come on Baby Girl. Let's change your bandages, get you dressed and get some food in you. You'll feel better after you have some breakfast. Take it from a veteran party girl." Kallie stood up and went over to the closet.

"O-Okay" Amelia forced a weak smile to her face and stood. She grabbed the hem of the nightshirt and pulled it up over her head. she hesitated for a second as she realized that she was stripping down to her underwear in front of someone else, then the logical part of her mind kicked in and she realized that Kallie would have been the one who'd put the nightshirt on her in ther first place. Clearly Kallie had to have seen her in her underwear already.. She pulled the nightshirt all the way off and set it on the bed.

"Some of my sister's old clothes will probably fit you. I put your clothes from last night in the wash" Kallie grabbed a black Gunslinger Girl tee shirt, there was a picture of Henrietta holding her P90 on the front. Kallie also grabbed a pair of khaki shorts, a pink bra, pink panties, and a pair of pink and purple socks. She laid these out on the bed and turned to look at Amelia who now stood in front of her in nothing but her bandages and her white underclothes.

"Sorry sweetie, going to have to take off your bra to take off the bandages" Kallie said, an apologetic look on her face.

"I-It's f-fine" Amelia shrugged meekly and closed her eyes, she moved to undo the clasps but Kallie had already slipped her arms behind Amelia and unsnapped the bra straps, pulling it off of Amelia. Amelia shivered slightly, the air felt cold on her breasts. Kallie opened the first aid kit and pulled out a small pair of scissors which she immediately slid under one of the bandages and snipped it. she set the scissors back in the first aid kit with one hand and began unraveling the bandages with her other hand. She unwound the bandages with quick and practiced ease. Amelia blushed at the intimate contact, but Kallie handled it with a clinical calmness.

"Y-You s-s-seem like y-you've done t-this before" Amelia said, trying to shake the awkwardness of standing topless in front of Kallie as well as her embarrassment at her lack of breasts, Amelia was barely an A cup.

"I have, when you're in a gang and you deal with gunshot wounds often, you pick up some first aid. Most of our medical issues are handled by Meghan, a medical school dropout. she's actually very good but her scholarship ran out. Their loss was the Saints' gain. Anything too much for her usually goes to Doctor Gonzalez, we help him out with some insurance fraud, he pays us and works as a silent doctor." Kallie finished unwrapping the bandages and set them on the bed so she could throw them away later. She grabbed a bottle of antiseptic and a small wipe from the kit, poured the antiseptic on the wipe, and began rubbing the wound.

Amelia grimaced at the pain of the direct pressure on the wound and let out a small whimper. Kallie looked at her sympathetically.

"Sorry sweetie, but it's better than the wound getting infected." Kallie slipped behind Amelia and started on the exit wound with a fresh wipe and more antiseptic. The entire process of cleaning the wound took about five minutes. Once done, Kallie put the wipes on the bandages and returned the antiseptic to the first aid kit. Kallie then took out a fresh roll of bandages and some surgical tape. The process of rewrapping the wounds was quick and before Amelia knew itKallie had finished. She stood away from Amelia, closing the kit as she did.

"There we go" Kallika said, she stood still for a second, then noticed Amelia's blush and the girl's eyes darting from her to the clothes laid out on the bed.

"O-Oh, sorry sweetie, brain blank, just come down when you're finished getting dressed. Then we can go grab breakfast." Kallie grabbed the wipes and bandages, turned around and moved towards the door.

"T-T-Thank you" Amelia was extremely grateful for Kallie leaving, she was not comfortable being naked in front of anyone. She slipped her underwear off and picked up the underwear from the bed. The clothes looked like they fit her, and Gunslinger Girl was one of her favorite animes.

Amelia wondered just how similar she and Kallie's sister had been. She dressed quickly, the bra must have been one of the girl's older ones, the girl had been more developed than Amelia in the last few pictures. Amelia finished dressing and moved to the door. She walked down the hallway, the walls were tan, the trim was white, a table sat against the hallway with a bowl on it, most likely for keys. She passed by the door that she could assume led to Kallie's room. At the end of the hall a stairway led down to a landing and then out of sight into what she could assume to be the first floor of the apartment.

Amelia examined the room as she walked down the final set of steps. It was a kitchen/living room combo, a grey L shaped couch in front of a large screen TV, the TV was a plasma screen, but it was a 2006 model, an early generation. The TV sat in a stand with a DVD rack underneath, all the DVDs were alphabetized and all were in their place.

The entire living area looked immaculate, a little too immaculate to be lived in. Amelia was horrible with people, she knew and accepted that, but she was very good with details, and the details that she was seeing were telling her that the living area had been barely used since the younger sister had died. The kitchen was better, granite counter tops, good appliances, and an island in the middle of the kitchen. It looked like it actually got some use unlike the living area. Kallie leaned against the island, waiting for her.

"Those clothes look good on you Baby Girl, of course we'll have to get you some new ones. Come on, your hangover will feel a lot better after some breakfast." Kallie grabbed a white leather purse from the counter and started for the front door, motioning for Amelia to follow. Amelia quickly fell in step behind her. She was blinded the second they stepped out into the sun, it was a clear cloudless day and unseasonably warm for October.

Amelia recoiled as the brightness assaulted her senses, Kallie immediately took notice of this and pulled a pair of Ray Bands out of her purse. She slipped them on Amelia's face. The sunglasses helped and Amelia found the light much more manageable. They were obviously Kallie's, too big for Amelia's face, but small enough to fit over her glasses rather well.

"Sorry honey, I should have warned you. Bright light and hangovers do not go well together." Kallie opened the car door for Amelia and let her slide in first, then closed it and went around to hop in on the driver's side. Kallie pulled away from the curb and headed in the direction of the nearby outlet mall.

"So, Baby Girl, what did you think of your first time getting drunk?" Kallie let out a small giggle as she said it, there was something hilarious in hindsight about Amelia getting trashed. When she had been taking Amelia back to her place, Kallie had been worried about her having alcohol poisoning. However, other than the expected hangover, Amelia seemed to be perfectly fine. She was even handling the hangover better than Kallie had expected, she hadn't puked.

"F-Fun at f-first, but n-now I-I feel l-l-like h-hell, and I-I p-passed o-out at the p-party." Amelia settled back into her seat, trying to make herself as comfortable as possible.

"It happens sweetheart; part of the partying experience is drinking too much and getting hungover." Kallie remembered her own first party, she had drank so much that she had been throwing up for two days afterwards.

"W-Why d-do p-p-people d-d-drink if it m-makes them f-feel l-like shit?" Amelia could not see the logic of it, it had made sense when she had been throwing back shots and cocktails and mixed drinks, but now it just seemed extremely stupid.

"Because when you learn when to stop and all of the other tricks, you can actually enjoy the drinking without passing out and having a two day hangover." Kallie was really trying her best not to laugh at Amelia, she knew how crappy the girl felt and had sympathy for her but the girl's naivety and lack of social knowledge was downright adorable sometimes.

"Y-You'll h-have to t-teach me t-those t-tricks then." Amelia suddenly remembered to put her seatbelt on, she immediately clicked it on. _That's odd_, she though, she never forgot to put on her seatbelt. She realized that it was probably part of the hangover.

"Don't worry Baby Girl, I will. Can't have you passing out drunk at every party, don't want to have to kill some drunken frat boy for trying to take advantage of you." Kallie meant it as a joke but Amelia didn't react that way.

"W-W-Wh-at-at" Amelia said in a voice suddenly filled with fear, her stutter was worse than it had been since she and Kallie had met. Amelia immediately curled up into a ball and began to hyperventilate.

"Calm down, sweetie, I was only kidding, nothing to worry about." Kallie said in a soothing tone, she took one hand off of the wheel and laid it reassuringly on Amelia's shoulder. The girl slowly calmed her breathing but only slightly uncurled, her knees were still held to her chest. _I just hit a big sore spot_, Kallie thought, _something happened to her, you don't get that kind of reaction out of a joke without some major trauma_, she thought.

"S-S-Sorry" Amelia wished she hadn't done that, but the image Kallie had brought forth was one that hadn't hit her while she was awake in years. Kallie threw a look of concern her way, but kept quiet. The rest of the ride passed in silence, until they reached a small diner near the outlet mall.

"Come on 'Amelia, this is the perfect place to nurse a hangover." Kallie put a smile back on her face, though her thoughts were still on Amelia's reaction to that joke. Amelia opened the door and slipped out of the Zomkah, closing the door behind her. The diner was an old fifties style place.

Amelia took in all the details as she followed Kallie up the ramp and inside. Inside had black and white checker floors, red vinyl booths and rotating stools in front of a counter. There were pictures of Ritchie Valens, Buddy Holly, James Dean, and other fifties stars hanging on the wall, windows encircled the front, and there was a real jukebox sitting in the corner.

Kallie led her to a booth and they sat down, the diner was well populated and most of the booths were filled with, oddly enough, university students. There were a few middle class salary men too. Three young women on roller blades flitted from table to table, delivering food and drinks, clearing tables, and directing customers .

All three of them looked to be somewhere between eighteen and twenty five. An older woman, most likely in her sixties, stood behind the counter taking orders and yelling them through a window to what Amelia presumed to be the kitchen. Once again everyone had been looking at Kallie as she had guided Amelia to the booth, and that's when Amelia realized something.

"I-It's impressive" Amelia said quietly.

"What's impressive, Baby Girl" Kallie pulled two menus from a stand at the end of the table against the wall and set them on the table.

"Y-Y-You are t-the c-c-center of a-attention in e-every r-r-room, and s-somehow y-you b-blend in a-a-at the s-same t-t-time." Amelia looked at the faces of everyone looking at Kallie, no one seemed to think she was even slightly out of place among these college students and low level business men, just as she had fit in among the poor people and criminals that had been at Freckle Bitch's.

"Sweetie that's simple, I dress to be seen, but not remembered. If I had worn this outfit to Freckle Bitch's the other day, everyone would have remembered me because I would have looked out of place, too high class for the neighborhood. The same goes if I wore the outfit I was wearing there here, I would look like a whore. Five minutes after we leave, all the guys in here will be able to write a sonnet about my ass, or my tits, or my legs. Of course considering some of these college kids are English majors, at least one probably will. But if you ask them to describe my face, how tall I am, whether I look more Black or biracial, none of them will be able to give a good answer.

If someone looks closely at me, then they'll be looking at the fact that my nipples are poking my polo, and thinking about the fact that I'm not wearing a bra, or they'll look at my waist or crotch or ass and they'll think about how tight my Capri's are and how I'm not wearing panties. I don't draw attention, parts of me do. People remember when they see a yuppie in the Row, or a whore in Sommerset. People in the Row don't remember enough about a whore to give police an accurate description, same goes for people who see a pretty yuppie around here." Kallie smiled as she finished her little lecture, and as if to punctuate it, turned and threw a wink and a smile at some college students at the counter who were looking at her, the students immediately turned their gaze somewhere else.

Amelia was stunned, she had always done her best to avoid being remembered and disappear, she did it by drawing as little attention as possible, Kallie did the opposite and achieved the same goal.

One of the waitresses rolled up to their table, an attractive red headed women, she looked to be in her late teens to early twenties. The uniform was a stereotypical fifties waitress dress with several buttons undone to show off the woman's chest. The fabric was pink with daisy buttons, sequin trim, a short lace ruffled skirt ending a few inches below her thighs, a white ruffled apron, and a pink waitress hat.

"Kallie, it's great to see you, Who's your adorable little friend?" The girl was incredibly bubbly. She leaned down and planted a kiss on Kallie's cheek. Kallie didn't respond to the kiss, but made no move to stop the red head. She merely smiled and accepted it as though it was the girl's customary greeting.

"Great to see you again to Jenny, this is my friend Amy." Kallie spoke in a tone of friendly familiarity. Amelia wished that she had interjected and kept Kallie from revealing her real name, she tried to keep that down to a few close people. In fact up until four nights ago she hadn't told anyone in the city her real name. _Well_, she thought, _I said that I was going to stop hiding, I guess this is part of it._

"Awesome to meet you, Amy, I'm Jenny if you didn't hear her." Jenny turned to Amelia, and before Amelia could react, bent down and planted a kiss on Amelia's cheek.

"N-Nice t-t-to m-meet y-you t-too" Amelia blushed furiously at the intimate contact, she wasn't comfortable talking to complete strangers, much less having one randomly kiss her on the cheek.

"Aww, she's shy, that is so cute, either way, what can I get for you two?" Jenny pulled a small notebook out from a pocket in her apron.

"We'll both have a hangover cure" Kallie said without even glancing at the menus sitting on the table.

"Late party last night, huh, wait two hangover cures? you mean… you went out and got this little girl drunk?" Jenny looked aghast for a second and Amelia thought that she didn't approve, Amelia's blush somehow got even redder at being referred to as a little girl. Then Jenny burst into a fit of cackling.

"I didn't, it was her first time and the Saints were celebrating cleaning out the Row. From what I saw, she just finished whatever drinks were handed to her. By the end of it, she was passed out on a couch, I got her in my car, took her back to my place, got her into some nightclothes and tucked her in for the night. I wanted to make sure that she didn't have alcohol poisoning or OD from some drug that the drinks might have been spiked with." Kallie explained in a nonchalant manner, when Kallie put it like that, Amelia thought that it made her sound like an idiot. _In all honesty, you were_, Amelia thought.

"This little girl is a Saint, you're kidding me right, she's four." Jenny didn't say it as an insult to Amelia, she said it like it was a simple irrefutable fact, and to Amelia, that fact made it all the worse.

"I-I a-am a S-S-Saint, and I-I'm f-fifteen, a-a-actually" Amelia's voice was meek, like it always was, but inside she raged. No one had ever called her that young, the youngest she had been called since turning fourteen was seven. Suddenly, Amelia wanted a mirror, she wanted some kind of assurance that she didn't look nearly as young as this woman said that she did.

"Well, you are just adorable, good for you to be a Saint, and congrats on your first time getting drunk, it get's more fun. I'll have those two cures for you in a few minutes" Jenny ruffled Amelia's hair, turned, and skated back towards the counter to relay their order to the older woman.

"Sorry sweetie, Jenny is a bit overly affectionate." Kallie looked apologetically at the blushing girl in front of her.

"I-It's f-fine" Amelia lied, she actually wanted to get the hell away from that woman.

"It's just that she is on so many antipsychotics that she's all bubbly and happy all the time." Kallie judged Amelia's reaction, the girl's eyes shot open at the mention of antipsychotics, which was less than most people did, most had their jaws hit the floor or let out a shocked 'what'.

"W-Why i-i-is she o-on a-antipsychotics?" Amelia was really surprised that a perky bubbly girl like that was on antipsychotics.

"Because she is crazy" Kallie was used to this sort of reaction, she had known Jenny for a long time, and this was the general reaction she got.

"L-Like c-c-crazy h-h-how" Amelia just couldn't believe that a girl like that was crazy. But then again, four days ago, she never thought that she could kill someone, and over the course of the last four days ago, her kill count had gone well into the double digit area.

"As in she is a psychopath, she gets off on killing people, the antipsychotics keep her from doing that." Kallie looked over at where Jenny was taking an order and giggling. Amelia was quiet for a full minute, her mind raced with one thought over and over again.

"B-But w-we k-k-kill p-people, h-how a-a-are w-we d-d-different?" The images of the people she had killed played through her mind. The Roller that she had executed as he lay on the ground in front of her at Freckle Bitch's, the Vice Kings that had collapsed as she had sprayed them with bullets, all of the bodies at the docks. She remembered the stench of the burning flesh, and the thing that scared her was the fact that no matter how hard she tried, she couldn't bring herself to feel anything about it.

"Ooh, sweetheart, there is a really big difference. We aren't psychopaths, we don't live for the kill or causing suffering, we do it because it's part of the life. Honey, Jenny is crazy, when she is off her meds, all that matters to her is spilling blood and hurting people. You and I may have problems, there's no denying that, but everyone has problems. We aren't crazy Baby Girl, that is one thing that you should never worry about." Kallie reached over the table and squeezed Amelia's hand tightly, Amelia took small reassurance from the motion, but it still didn't entirely calm the part of her brain that was saying that she should feel awful for not feeling terrible about the kills.

"By the way sweetie, are you alright?" Kallie asked, catching Amelia by surprise.

"W-What, y-yes, o-of c-course, w-w-why" Amelia stammered out as she was pulled away from her thoughts.

"Because sweetie, yesterday and the day before that, you seemed to have gotten comfortable enough around me that your stutter wasn't nearly as bad, today it's worse than ever, is everything alright? Was it that thing I said in the car?" Kallie thought back on that reaction that Amelia had to that joke, something was wrong, and considering she had been like this all morning, it could be even more than that. Kallie had initially put it down to the hangover and the fact that Amelia wasn't okay being topless in front of her while she had changed the bandages on the girl's wound, but now it seemed like it might be more.

Amelia looked sullenly down at the table, she knew that she should not have allowed herself to react like she had, it was only part of the reason why she had been so uncomfortable, but she didn't want to address the questions she had about Kallie's sister. She didn't want to make Kallie unhappy with her over that, but she knew she had to either explain her reaction in the car or ask about Kallie's sister. One was one of her deepest secrets, the other risked upsetting the closest thing she had to a sister, Amelia thought, it wasn't much of a choice.

"C-Can w-w-we p-p-plea-ease t-talk a-a-about t-thi-is after b-b-reak-eakfast" Amelia said, desperate to stall for time.

"Of course sweetie, whatever you're comfortable with" Kallie eased her posture and gave Amelia's hand another squeeze, she could tell that something was wrong and she wanted to make Amelia as comfortable as possible. She already had a guess as to what had caused that reaction but she really hoped she was wrong.

Jenny came back holding two platters of food. On each of the platters was a bottle of Gatorade, a light fruit salad, a heap of hash browns with a side of bacon, toast, a cup of tea and honey, a cup of cookies and crème ice cream, and a series of multi-colored pills. Jenny set them down, then immediately skated to the next table, for a psychopath, she seemed like a good waitress.

"W-What i-i-is a-all t-this?" Amelia asked, she was most suspicious of the pills.

"A hangover cure, Gatorade to rehydrate, fruit salad to help get your vitamins back up, hash browns, bacon, and ice cream for comfort food, toast and tea to ease your stomach, and vitamins A, B, C, and E." Kallie explained as she dug in ravenously. Amelia had to admit, the food was delicious and it did make her hangover feel better. After they had both finished, Jenny took the platters away, and Kallie paid the bill.

"Come on Baby Girl, let's head back to my place to get strapped, then we can head for the church, we've got promises to keep" Kallie said as she stood up, drawing the eyes of every male in the room once again.

"And miles to go before we sleep" Amelia said automatically, she loved Frost. Kallie smiled at the recognition and led her out of the diner back towards her Zomkah. Once they were both inside the car, Kallie turned the car on, put the top up, and rolled up the windows. The drive back to her apartment was quick and soon they were pulling up to the curb. Amelia followed Kallie up the stairs and into the apartment. Kallie sat Amelia down next to her on the couch in front of the plasma screen.

"Okay, sweetie, I'm sorry, but I have to ask again. what's wrong? Is it because of that thing I said?" Kallie already had her suspicions, and for once, she truly hated that she knew how rarely she was wrong.

"I-I w-wa- I m-mea-" Amelia stammered and stuttered, desperately trying to get the words to form coherent sentences. Kallie started running a hand through Amelia's hair, trying to soothe the girl and let her ease into the explanation.

"R-Ra-ape j-j-jokes b-b-bri-ing up a-a l-l-l-ot of b-bad m-memo-ories f-f-for m-me." Amelia's voice was barely a whisper as she finally managed to form a sentence, just loud enough for Kallie to hear, shame burned all throughout her at her admission, at what she had let happen to her. The dam threatened to break as tears began to form around her eyes, she fought back a sob as it caught in her throat.

Kallie sat in stunned silence for a second, and then white hot rage bloomed inside of her as her suspicions were confirmed. Someone had done THAT to her baby sister, she wanted blood, she wanted to hunt down the son of a bitch and torture him till he screamed for death and then torture him some more. The fact that Amelia wasn't her blood sister never crossed her mind, she just wanted to feel her bare hands crushing the throat of the person who had done something so horrible to someone as innocent as Amelia.

Kallie seized Amelia and pulled the small girl over to her so that Amelia was practically sitting on her lap. She held Amelia fiercely, pulling the girl's head against her shoulder and stroking her hair. Amelia returned the embrace, wrapping her arms around Kallie as tightly as she could. She couldn't stifle it any longer, a deluge of tears began to flow from her eyes and her body shuddered with deep, wracking, sobs. Amelia could feel the cotton of Kallie's polo as she buried her face in Kallie's shoulder.

Finally, the dam broke, and there, sitting on the lap of her surrogate older sister with her face buried in the fabric of a cotton polo,.For the second time in her life, Amelia recounted the entire brutal and terrible story of how she was raped. Every horrifying detail flooded out of Amelia's mouth in between the sobs, she recalled it all in perfect clarity, every image etched into her mind.

She recounted how it happened, she told Kallie how her father had reacted and how it had pushed her to run away. She confessed how ashamed she felt, for being foolish enough to be tricked, for being too weak to defend herself, how she hated herself for it. She went into detail about the many long nights she had spent staring at a knife, fighting the urges to end her pain. Finally, she finished, she had gone through every detail, and so she just sat there, curled up against Kallie, completely emotionally spent.

Kallie drank in every detail while gently rocking Amelia back and forth, offering a kind and reassuring word where she could. Underneath her sympathy, there was rage. She wanted to kill the pieces of shit who raped Amelia, she wanted to kill Amelia's father for his failure to respond correctly, she wanted to kill all of those who had been connected to it. In that moment, blood, parents, and pasts no longer mattered in the slightest, they had become sisters in every sense of the word that mattered.

Kallie kissed the girl lightly on the temple and whispered in her ear.

"Don't worry sweetie, no one is ever going to hurt you like that again. If they try, I'll make sure they die screaming."

**OK guys, I know this is late, but I had to take my time on this one, I had to put it through my betas to make sure it came out perfect.**

**There isn't much action here, but it's a pretty important chapter. Both for the storyline and for the story in meta. this is the first chapter that 90% me. the only part of this chapter that actually happened in game was Julius's speech. **

**Big thanks to River Nightrunner and Mr. Venom, this chapter wouldn't be nearly as good without them.**

**As always, read and review.**


	5. News, Coffee-Mud, Special Ops, and Bears

"I'm Jack Armstrong. If you've been wondering what those new colors are that you've been seeing on the streets lately, Stilwater Police Chief Richard Monroe addressed the media on that very subject today, and our own Jane Valderamma was there. Jane?" The news caster spoke from behind a desk with a large Channel 6 logo on it. He was White with brown hair, whiter-than-white teeth, and obviously had a lot of makeup on. Amelia could see all of this through her television as she sat on her couch, sipping her cappuccino. The camera focused in on the woman sitting next to him, a Hispanic woman with black hair and the same overly white teeth and caked-on makeup as the man.

"Jack. As if this city didn't have enough to worry about, Chief Monroe revealed today that a fourth gang has thrown its colors into the ring, doing battle on the streets of Stilwater. Chief Monroe said that the name of the new gang is... the 3rd Street Saints." Amelia smiled at the mention of the gang, her gang, and looked down at the purple scarf that was draped over her shoulders, she rarely took it off anymore. The scene on the TV changed to what she assumed was the press room of the police station, a Black man in a police dress uniform stood at a podium in front of a group of assembled reporters.

"We've identified a new cell of urban terrorist today. While they like to call themselves the Third Street Saints, we're calling them nothing more than common criminals. At this time we know very little about them, other than that they exist and they are the driving force behind the recent ramp-up of gang violence that has plagued this city." Amelia frowned, he's ignoring all the other street gangs, probably because he knows that he can't put down the others and now that the Saints are public he thinks that he can take them down fast and get credit, she thought.

"I asked Chief Monroe how his force will handle this new threat." Jane's voice overlaid the scene.

"We've budgeted more money this year for training, surveillance, undercover officers, and for more sophisticated body armor and weaponry. We plan to take the fight to them rather than wait for them to attack the citizens of this great city. If we act quickly and with steely determination, these 3rd Street Saints simply can't survive." The camera zoomed in on the Black man, Chief Monroe, as he spoke. Amelia took another sip of her cappuccino, noting that he never specified how he was going to use his resources, he just spouted noncommittal political rally cries. The scene returned the studio again, this time not focusing on either of the two anchors.

"It sounds as if Chief Monroe has lined up the resources he needs to stop this new gang from becoming another major danger in a town already on the ropes. From the newsroom, I'm Jane Valderamma. Jack." Amelia shook her head, from what she heard in Julius's speeches, the Saints were the ones who were going to be restoring peace to the city, the police had their chance and blew it.

"Thank you, Jane. More from the newsroom in less than 30 minutes. I'm Jack Armstrong." Amelia grabbed the remote and turned off the television. She didn't know why she watched the news, it never did anything except make her think that reporters were idiots.

Amelia stood up from the couch and went over to her dresser, she was wearing the My Little Pony nightshirt that she had gotten from Kallie's apartment. The fact that it had belonged to a dead girl didn't bother her much. She liked the shirt, and she suspected that Kallie liked seeing Amelia in her younger sister's old clothes, and Amelia always liked Kallie's approval. Amelia quickly changed into a dark blue skater skirt that ended just above her knees and black tights, as well as a black turtleneck sweater. Kallie had been taking her shopping for new clothes, Amelia never wore skirts before, but they were apparently in style.

Then she went back to her coffee table, a small cardboard box sat in the middle of it, Amelia ripped the tape off and opened the box. Inside were two sheathed knives, as well as ankle and shoulder sheaths, one seven inches long, one four and three-fourths of an inch long. The short knife was an SOG SEAL Pup, the long one was an SOG SEAL2000. Both knives were preferred choices for many members of the United States Navy SEALs. The process of getting these through entirely legitimate channels actually involved a fairly strenuous process to ensure that they went to legal buyers. The internet is a beautiful thing, Amelia thought.

She grabbed her black satchel and put in her Spree, the knives, her phone, her ear buds, her inhaler, and the latest Heroes of Olympus novel in case she got bored at the church. She tucked her NR4 into the back of her waistband, slipped on her tennis shoes, and slung her satchel over her shoulder, then headed for her door.

Amelia locked her door behind her and headed down the stairs. She headed out onto the street and started walking towards the church. It was a quick walk, she picked up some acma and a cup of coffee from a cart on the way. The cart was owned by a Turkish man who seemed to be very set in the opinion that she was a child and thus should be in school, no matter how much she told him otherwise. The coffee was excessively strong, thick enough to make a spoon stand up, and it made redbull look like sleepytime tea. Amelia had looked it up on Wikipedia and found out that the coffee had been how the Ottoman Empire had been won, maddened horseman fueled by near-lethal jet-black coffee-mud. It was an acquired taste, but over the last week she had come to love it.

Amelia munched on her acma and drank her coffee-mud as she walked, the church was coming into view. The acma was sweet and covered in some kind of glaze, Amelia had yet to ask what it was. She tossed her now-empty coffee cup in a trashcan and finished off her acma as she neared the church. She walked through the parking lot into the cemetery, there were six or seven Saints hanging around the cemetery, Amelia had yet to learn all of the names and it seemed like new faces were appearing everyday. She gave them all small nods as she passed. She was getting better at dealing with strangers.

"Hola nina" Miguel said as she passed, he stood at the top of the stairs wearing purple cargo pants and a brown muscle shirt.

"H-Hola Miguel" Amelia mentally face palmed, she was getting good at suppressing her stutter around the Saints, it no longer even manifested when she was just around Kallie and it was getting more and more rare when she was talking to the women, but it was still evident around the men, and Miguel still scared the shit out of her.

"Senorita Price is in her office with Johnny and Dex, senorita Reid is patching up one of the crew in the conference room, a Vice King snuck up on him while he was tagging a wall in Adept way." Miguel knew her well enough to know exactly who she looked for when she got to the church in the morning.

"Gracias M-Miguel" Amelia said as she headed inside the church. More saints were spread around the inside, waiting for jobs to be passed around by lieutenants or someone to come get a crew together for one purpose or another. She saw Jade Choi, Brian Williams, and Dwayne Green sitting on the steps in front of the altar. They had been part of the group that canonized her. She raised her hand towards them in a wave, they responded with nods of respect. Amelia had found that her fears of resentment for the beatings that she had delivered were completely unfounded, if anything it had gained her their respect for her abilities.

Amelia headed towards the backroom that Kallie used as an office with Johnny Gat. Gat still terrified Amelia, she hadn't spoken to him directly since her canonization and from all of the stories that she'd heard… he had become an occasional guest star in her nightmares.

It had been a week since she had told Kallie about what had happened to her, and Kallie still didn't know much about Amelia's past other than how she was sexually assaulted. It wasn't that she didn't trust Kallie, she just didn't want anyone to know the whole story. Over the course of the past week she had spent most of her time working with Kallie, trying to set up the Saints' prostitution racket. She had also been part of an crew providing escort for an independent marijuana dealer who had hooked up with the Saints for protection, it was a simple job, she and three other Saints sat in the van as he did his deals and jumped out if any trouble came up, usually the others had dealt with the problem before she could get a shot off. It was under Dex's purview due to him being in charge of setting the Saints drug market up.

"Hey Baby Girl, what's up? I heard that the drug escort got dicey last night." Kallie slipped an arm around Amelia as the girl entered the makeshift office. Kallie was dressed in a purple tee shirt that ended just above her belly button and jeans, an amethyst glittered from her belly button. Amelia drew herself closer to Kallie as she did so, an act that had become instinct. When she saw Johnny Gat sitting at the desk, she immediately let herself slip back a step so that Kallie was slightly in between Gat and herself. Dex was leaning against the back wall next to Gat, both were wearing clothes that were so similar to what Amelia had seen them wearing last, she almost thought that they had never taken them off.

"N-N-Nothing I c-couldn't handle." Amelia had been sitting in the front of the van while Tobias, the dealer, had been doing a deal, the other three Saints were in the back, and two cars full of Carnales had rolled up and Amelia had popped out the window of the van and managed to spray three of them with her Spree before the other Saints had popped out and gotten the last five. After that the night had gone smoothly.

"More like had it handled for her" Dex muttered under his breath, Kallika threw him a look like she would throw a knife, Gat started chuckling.

"Take a seat, Princess" Gat kicked a chair out from under the table towards her. Amelia spun the chair around and sat down, trying her best to hide her fear, she didn't want to show it in front of Gat, and she sure as hell didn't want to look scared in front of Dex. The mutual dislike between Dex and Kallika had become very evident over the past week and it seemed like Dex didn't like Amelia because she was so close to Kallika, and if he wanted to be that way, then Amelia was happy to return the feeling.

"So you're Kal's new girl, huh? You don't look like much. Then again, I don't look like I have an eight inch cock, so I guess we're both full of surprises." Gat leaned back in his office chair and looked at her over his glasses, she got the distinct feeling that he was sizing her up.

"The Vice Kings, are named after one guy; Benjamin King. That shit don't happen unless you're a professional or a bad ass, and in King's case, he's both." Gat's phone started to ring.

"Hold on, I gotta take this." Gat brought the phone to his ear and spun his chair so it was angled away from her. His smirk widened as he heard the voice at the other end of the line.

"Aisha, what a pleasant fucking surprise." His grin dropped and he dropped his feet from the desk.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa, slow down" Johnny held the phone away from his ear as the voice on the other end increased in volume. Once the voice had finished, he put the phone back to his ear.

"Okay, that's not slower, that's louder." Kallie was giving him a weird look, it sounded like something was wrong. Amelia looked at the posters for the rap star, the woman on the phone can't be the same person, they just share the same name, Amelia thought.

"Shit, where's she headed? Don't worry, I got this." Johnny hung up the phone, even Amelia could tell he looked pissed.

"What's up" Dex said as he moved towards Gat.

"Some mother fucker's grabbed Aisha's sister right off the street." Gat looked downright murderous.

"Shit man, that's the sixth girl this month, we know who's doing this?" Dex for his part looked slightly concerned at this turn of events.

"The fucking Vice Kings, I told Julius that we should have gotten involved after the second girl went missing, all the girls on the street are talking about it" Kallika growled as she leaned over the desk.

"And I told him that kidnapping wasn't King's style, and that we didn't need to waste resources on a wild ass goose chase because your whores are getting scared. Julius agreed with me." Dex somehow looked pissed and smug at the same time.

"Yeah, well those motherfuckers have Eesh's sister, so can you two put off your little fucking rivalry so we can get to murdering and get this shit done?" Gat's voice grew angrier in tone and volume as he stood, Amelia mildly recoiled, Gat could be a very terrifying force when angry.

"Um, e-e-excuse m-me" Amelia said meekly, Dex glared at her, Kallie turned to her, the anger quickly masked with concern as it always was when Amelia interrupted an argument, Kallie had learned quickly that if Amelia was able to call forth the force of will to force her way through her shyness, it was important enough to take priority.

"What you got Princess?" Gat turned toward her and looked down at her over his glasses, the gesture and the suddenly cold calm tone made him even more menacing than before. Amelia shrank back on the chair, trying to make herself disappear and wishing that she had not spoken, she could feel the fear rising, she could feel the attack coming on. Kallie noticed Amelia's fear and laid a hand between the girl's shoulder blades, physical contact with Kallie tended to help calm Amelia when her attacks started to come on, Kallie had picked up on the fact after a particularly fierce fight with a group of pimps. Amelia had been forced to deal with them hand to hand, Amelia was a gifted hand to hand fighter, but she tended to have panic attacks after engaging in close quarters combat, Kallie figured it was the extra stress.

"Aw great, now she is going to throw a fit again." Most of the Saints were sympathetic to Amelia's panic attacks, they merely considered it a quirk of her age or her personality, Dex was one of those who were unsympathetic. Kallie glared at him, causing him to smirk back at her. He dropped his smirk and retreated back into the corner when Gat turned his cold eyes on him.

After about a minute, Amelia calmed down and looked back up at Gat, who let out a long exasperated sigh and sat back down. He adjusted his posture, making himself look less angry and less menacing.

"Listen kid, I get it, I scare the fuck out of you, that's good, I should, I'm a scary guy you know nothing about. But Eesh's sister is missing and the longer we take, the less likely we are to find her. So if you got something, spill it." Gat leaned over the desk and looked Amelia in the eyes, the fury was still there, but now it was hidden, like a fire hidden in the smoke.

"W-well, if you g-give me her phone number, I c-can remotely hack her p-phone and install a t-tracking app." It was a simple enough hack, all she had to do was unleash the homemade bot program via text, the text didn't even have to be opened, it just had to be received to use the exploit

"If you can find those motherfuckers then get your ass in gear. Here's the number." Johnny slid his phone over to her, she took it and quickly memorized the number and tapped it into her own phone. She embedded the bot into a text and sent it to the sister's phone. Two minutes later, she got the notification that the app had installed itself and a map appeared on her phone with a flashing purple blip showing the location of the girl. Amelia slid her phone over to Gat.

"Alright, now we're talking, Kal, get a crew together and come after us, we'll call you when we find the girls. Dex find some other shit to do, we got this." Gat grabbed a shotgun from his weapons rack and slung it over his shoulder using the strap attached to the barrel and stock of the gun.

"You're going to need someone to cover you, Johnny, I'll handle that." Dex went to get a Krukov off of the rack, only to be stopped by Gat.

"No man, we'll do this, you go get drunk, get laid, get killed, I don't fucking care. Just go do something and let us get this shit done." Gat grabbed a baseball bat and his smirk returned, he seemed less menacing now, more eager, like a quarterback in the locker room before a game. Then he turned to Amelia.

"Get your toys together Princess, you and me got a play date with the Kings." Amelia was taken aback, the idea of going on a job with Gat did not appeal to her. Dex skulked out of the room, muttering insults in Amelia's direction

"Johnny, I don't think that's such a great idea. How about I come with you and Dex can get the crew together?" Kallie knew that Amelia could handle herself in a firefight, and she knew Gat was an artist when it came to killing. What worried her was how Amelia would react to being alone with Johnny, she had already nearly had a panic attack and that had been with Kallie present, even she knew that she was a comfort to Amelia.

"Nah, we got this, don't we Princess? Come on, there's murdering to be done. Get your stuff and meet me out front." Gat was moving out the door before he even finished speaking. Kallie grabbed him by the shoulder and leaned in to his ear.

"Watch out for her" she whispered, making sure Amelia didn't hear. Gat nodded and was out the door.

"You okay with this sweetie?" Kallie turned back to where Amelia still sat.

"Yeah, I'll be fine, I'm going to have to get used to this sooner or later, I guess." Amelia shifted nervously in her seat, she knew that she had to learn to trust all of her fellow Saints, that didn't make her any less scared of Johnny though.

"That's my girl, Johnny is a good guy, he just comes off a little scary until you get to know him. Watch him, he's the best hitter you'll ever see, you can learn a lot from him." Kallie grabbed a Krukov from the weapons rack and slung it over her shoulder.

"I'll try, he just kind of terrifies me." Amelia said, Kallie was the only person she could be completely open with.

"I know Sweetheart, like I said, you just have to get to know him. Besides, once you find where they're taking the girls, a crew and I will be right at your back." Kallie passed Amelia a spare NR4. The girl stood and slipped it in the front of her waistband, one of the things she had learned from Julius, always have a spare.

Kallie pulled Amelia into a quick hug and planted a kiss on the girl's forehead.

"Be careful Baby Girl, love you."

"Love you to sis, don't worry I'll be careful." Amelia returned the hug, she enjoyed calling Kallie her sister, it felt nice to acknowledge the point that their relationship had reached. She was finding that a little of Kallie's confidence was rubbing off on her. Jobs didn't worry her at all anymore, and she was starting to accept the fact that killing people was just another part of her new life. Amelia pulled away and headed out the door. Gat must have told a few Saints about what was going on because several were arming themselves. Amelia steeled herself as best she could and headed out the front doors of the church.

Gat was sitting in the driver's seat of a purple Venom, gold rims, golden dragons of the Chinese styling went up the sides.

"Come on Princess, we gotta move." Gat yelled at her, his eagerness still heavily evident in his voice, this man was looking forward to killing.

Amelia picked up her pace a bit and hopped into the car, she had gotten much better at it and landed where she intended to almost every time now.

"I'll give you directions" Amelia managed to keep her stutter under control as she rattled off the street name that the blip was moving along. Gat floored it and soon they were nearing an intersection that the blip was headed to. A yellow car came roaring around the corner and Gat quickly moved to a reasonable distance to follow.

"Nice job kid, led us right to them." Gat's smirk turned into a full on grin.

"T-Thank y-you" Amelia's stutter returned, she had not expected any praise out of Gat.

"Kid, you need to chill the fuck out, I'm not going to kill you, or torture you, or whatever the fuck that you think that I'm gonna do to you." Gat sped up as the yellow car entered the Red Light District.

"S-Sorry, i-i-it's j-just t-that I h-heard a-a-all t-these stories a-and-" Amelia forced out her reply only to have Gat cut her off.

"Most of them are true" Gat turned his grin toward her in a moment of pride for those actions.

"I give people what they have coming to them, last I checked, you were a Saint, not some stupid fucking Carnale, Roller, or Vice King. So why the fuck would I shove a muffler down your throat." Johnny was referencing an incident involving a fight with some Rollerz. Julius had told Johnny to send a message to the Rollerz, from what Amelia had heard, the message had been received.

"I g-guess, s-s-so why d-didn't y-you want Kallie with u-us?" Amelia decided to change the subject, the image Johnny brought up, was not one that she enjoyed her imagination creating.

"I wanted to see how you are on your own kid." Johnny once again surprised Amelia. She hadn't thought that he had even noticed her in the ten days since her canonization.

"W-What d-d-do you m-mean?"

"Don't play dumb kid, you act different depending on how people see you. Around Kall you're the shy kid sister, and you both like it that way, whatever, good for you two. Miguel sees you as a kid, a kid who's good at what you do, but still a kid, so you do whatever the fuck he tells you on the job. Dex sees you as competition, so you hate his guts." Johnny turned into Bavogian Plaza.

"Why w-would he s-see m-me a-as c-c-competition? He's a lieutenant, I-I'm j-just a new r-recruit." Amelia hadn't thought about that, she had honestly just assumed Dex was a dick from what Kallie had told her.

"Yeah, he's a lieutenant, and he figures that you're trying to take his spot. Compared to the rest of us, Dex was the new kid until you joined, he's only been rolling with us for seven months. He's smart, but from what Kallie's telling everyone, you're a fucking genius. People don't like him, he's a douche, they do like you, toss in that you're the kid who took back the Row, and yeah, your competition."

"B-But, t-that was all Kallie, and Miguel, and Troy, a-and everyone but me, I didn't do anything except g-g-get s-shot." Amelia had no idea where Dex would get an idea like that, from her perspective, Troy had killed most of the VKs during the drive-bys, Miguel had done most of the work at the liquor store, and Julius and the other Saints had done all the work at the docks.

"Kid, you, Troy, and Kall kept the VKs out of Mission Beach, you and Miguel fucked the Carnales out of Athos Bay, and from what Julius is saying, you were the one who found out about that fight in Harrowgate, and from what I hear, you handled yourself pretty well. You may not know it Princess, but you got a hell of a rep building up and a whole lot of eyes are watching you." Gat could see the car turn into an alley. Good, it'll be like shooting Kings in a barrel, Gat's grin went as wide as it could go.

"I-I g-guess, I never s-saw it that way, I j-just do w-what I-I'm told." And that was exactly how Amelia thought of these jobs, she was doing as she was told, be it by Julius, Johnny, Troy, or Kallie.

"Kid, Julius sees you as the next fucking him. Kallie sees you as her kid sister. Dex sees you as a bedwetting brat who's trying to steal his place, his words, not mine." Gat saw the look on the girl's face turn to outrage, good, now let's see what this kid can do when she's pissed, that had been Johnny's goal, see what she could really do, no Kallika, no Miguel, just a whole lot of Vice Kings to kill. This is gonna be fun.

"Bedwetting? The last time I did that was eight months ago." Amelia huffed in her outrage, until she realized exactly what she had admitted, then her face turned a deep red and she returned her gaze to the phone.

"Uh, kid, keep that to yourself." Gat shook his head, that was just more than he needed to know.

"S-So w-what d-d-do you s-see m-me a-as" Amelia asked.

"Princess, I don't care if you're a genius, a kid, or a fucking Methodist, all that matters to me is how well you can murder anyone who stands in the Saints' way, you do that right, and you're all right with me." Johnny liked to consider himself a practical man, and practical men only cared about practical things, the ability to commit murder is a practical thing.

"W-Wait, the car stopped in the alley." The blip was now immobile, sitting right around the corner. Johnny pulled up to the curb in front of the alley, just in time to see a door slam closed and then reopen a second later as a man in full pimp regalia strolled out. He had that same peacock-like strut that seemed common to all pimps and he carried a walking stick with a figure of a naked woman as a grip. The man got in the car and sped out of the alley, passing the Venom, but not giving them any heed.

"T-The blip is s-still on the c-car." Amelia watched her phone as the car headed towards the river.

"Give me that" Gat took the phone, "He's going to Tee'N'Ay, asshole thinks he can grab some ass after grabbing some bitches. You stay here and call Kall so she can bring in the crew. I'm gonna go pick up Eesh's sister and make this pimp into another story for you to hear about." Amelia opened the door, she turned back to look at Gat. His menace was back in full force, every part of him screamed of a predator about to hunt. Gat grinned at her as he handed her phone back to her, it was the grin of a hungry tiger. Amelia took her phone and opened the door, Gat pulled the door shut behind her and was speeding off before she was two steps from the car.

Amelia looked at the street signs and then texted Kallie the location. Two minutes later her phone dinged and Kallie said that the crew would be there in ten minutes, it also said that she should just wait where she was. Amelia stood there for three minutes, leaning against the wall. She heard the door in the alley open and close again, Amelia peeked around the corner and saw a black Vice King in jean shorts and a yellow football jersey smoking and pacing around the alley. If he sees Kallie's Zomkah pull up full of Saints, he'll call his friends and one of them will call even more Kings, then this becomes a way bigger fight than the Saints wanted, Amelia thought, remembering her lessons from childhood on counter insurgency. They couldn't afford a fight like the one at the docks in a densely populated area, the police would respond and things would just keep escalating.

Amelia took another look at the King, there was only one thing that she could think of. Amelia opened her satchel and pulled out the SEAL2000 and unsheathed it. She held it in a reverse grip with the blade pointing up and with the entirety of the knife was hidden behind her right forearm. She placed the sheath in her satchel again, and then she turned the corner and began walking towards the King.

Amelia wasn't good with guns, she acknowledged this. She could barely aim correctly, she had yet to get used to the recoil, and she hated how her ears rang after gunfights. Kallie had been teaching her the proper way of shooting, but it was slow going.

She kept walking, the King had his back turned to her and had yet to notice her.

Amelia just seemed to have difficulty with guns, in all the fights she had been in so far, she had relied entirely on luck and quantity of bullets over quality of shots.

She was closer now, the King was still facing away from her, still completely oblivious to her presence.

It was honestly surprising to Amelia, everything she had ever tried came easily to her, computers, languages, martial arts, music, art, tactics and strategy, she just seemed to have a natural aptitude for whatever she tried, so the difficulty she had with firearms was an entirely new feeling for her.

She was within ten feet of the Vice King now, almost within striking distance.

Amelia was not a skilled marksman when it came to guns, but knives…

"E-Excuse me sir" Amelia said as soon as she was close enough, distinctly aware of how childlike her voice sounded. The King turned around, as he did so Amelia let the blade fall so that the knife was held in a standard grip. The second the King finished turning towards her, she drove the blade under the jaw, going diagonally up into the skull, and more importantly, the brain.

Yes, Amelia was very good with knives.

Amelia withdrew the blade, blood flowing out of the wound on to her hand, and kicked the King as he dropped to his knees, sending the corpse down quicker. Amelia stood still for a second, then she started moving towards the door, have to keep moving, have to keep moving or the attacks will start, Amelia thought. Amelia debated whether she should stop and wait for the crew and Kallie, but she'd started, and now she had to finish.

Amelia kept walking until she reached the door, she eased the door open, thanking god that it was well oiled, and slipped inside. Amelia dropped to a crouch and moved forward. A Vice King with an Urban was standing there leaning against a shelf. Amelia slipped behind him and slid the knife into the man's lower thigh, cutting the femoral artery. Without missing a beat, Amelia moved to take the man's weight and ease him to the ground. Her arms strained under the weight and for a moment it seemed likes she was going to drop him, but miraculously she was able to get him to the ground with a barely audible thud. The man had bled out before he was on the ground, his blood was all over her leggings.

Amelia moved around the shelf to hide behind some crates. She peeked around the corner, Two Vice Kings were chatting in the center of an open space in the middle of the warehouse. Amelia listened to their conversation.

"Man, don't you think it's fucked up? Taking Aisha's sister, I mean seriously bro, since when do we hit our own product." The King who was pacing around the center of the room said.

"It's simple man, Aisha has been actin' up lately, disrespectin' Warren and Tanya. So now we got her sister and if she don't shut the fuck up and do as she's told… Well there are plenty of fans willin' to spend some real paper to get a rap star's sister on her knees in front of them." Oh my god, this is the real Aisha's sister, Amelia thought.

"Guess your right man, how about you and me go sample the merchandise?" Amelia paled, they were going to rape those girls.

"Thought you'd never ask dawg" the other King laughed. Amelia's vision flashed red, one thought ran continuously through her head.

KILLTHEMKILLTHEMKILLTHEMKILLTHEMKILLTHEMKILLTHEMKILLTHEMKILLTHEMKILLTHEM. Amelia set down the knife, opened her satchel again, unsheathed the SEAL Pup, put the sheath back in, and closed the satchel. Amelia stood, holding a knife in each hand, moved around the crates, and took off at a dead sprint towards the Kings.

KILLTHEMKILLTHEMKILLTHEMKILLTHEMKILLTHEMKILLTHEMKILLTHEMKILLTHEM. The Vice Kings heard her approach and turned around to see Amelia charging them. Before they could react, Amelia slammed the knives into their stomachs. The impact of the blades sent them both down. Amelia stared down at the King with the SEAL2000 stuck in his stomach, and started stomping on him, blood began pouring from the man's mouth, soaking her tennis shoes. Amelia pulled her the SEAL2000 out of the man, he was dead. The other man was still on the ground, moaning in agony.

Amelia stood and started walking towards the backroom where she saw a Vice King, passed out on a folding chair. Amelia walked toward him, expecting him to wake at any minute, she wasn't exactly being quiet anymore. Then she saw the needle in the man's arm and realized that he wouldn't wake up if someone dropped a bomb on the warehouse. Amelia walked right up to him and drug her knife across his throat, blood sprayed from the wound, coating her face, her hair, her sweater, and her skirt. The man died quickly and Amelia moved on, heading towards the door in the back.

She tried the door, only to find it was locked. A voice called out from the room beyond.

"The guy with the key went to Tee'N'Ayy." Amelia nodded to herself, realizing that it had been the pimp who had left, and turned. Just as Amelia was about to start walking out to call Gat, she caught a reflection of herself in a broken mirror leaning against a wall. She was covered in blood, spattered in it from head to toe. Amelia raised her arm and wiped the blood off of her glasses with her sleeve, then she sat down, amazed by the image.

I ruined the outfit, Kallie bought me this outfit, Amelia thought vaguely and dropped her knife. Then the attack started, panic rose from her chest, filling her entirely. She began to hyperventilate and hugged her legs to her chest. She shoved her head in between her knees and tried desperately to control her breathing. Her windpipe felt like it was closing up, she felt as though she was suffocating.

Ican'tbreathIcan'tbreatheIcan'tbreath, she thought.

I'mgoingtodieI'mgoingtodie, the thought ran through her head on a constant loop.

This seemed to go on forever, but finally blackness overcame her.

The next thing Amelia knew, she heard the door open.

Amelia gripped her knife and forced herself to poke her head up to look through the windows between the back office and the main warehouse. She relaxed when she saw that the group was dressed in purple.

Amelia stood up and had to take a second to balance herself; her legs were a little shaky. Then Amelia started walking out of the office towards the group.

"Sweetie, are you okay, you're covered in blood." Kallie rushed forward from the group, she had her Krukov slung over her shoulder. Kallie placed her hands on Amelia's shoulders and examined her, looking for wounds that could be the source of the blood.

"None of it is m-my blood, i-it's all theirs, s-sorry about t-the outfit." Amelia gestured to the corpses around the room to indicate the sources of the blood.

"It's alright sweetie, we'll get you a new one." Kallie let out a small chuckle as she looked at Amelia, then around the room. She takes out a room full of Vice Kings using only a pair of knives, and the thing that she's worried about is that she messed up her outfit, Kallie thought, crazy girl after my own heart.

"The g-guy with t-the key is at T-Tee'N'Ayy, y-you'll need it f-for the d-door b-back there." Amelia gestured towards the back office.

"Already got that Princess, our little friend here has it." Amelia looked past Kallie to see Gat strolling in, dragging the Vice King pimp behind him by the fur lined collar of his audacious coat. His jacket had flecks of blood on it and his shotgun was slung over his shoulder, Amelia assumed that the blood on him belonged to the pimp.

"I told you to watch out for her." Kallie threw a look at Gat. "Wipe your face Baby Girl; never leave blood on your face unless you're planning on intimidating someone." Kallie pulled a handkerchief out of her pocket and handed it to Amelia.

"I did, I left her to wait for you, not my fault you took too long and Princess over here decided to get all the murdering done without you. You do all this yourself Princess." Gat tossed the beaten and bloodied pimp on the ground and surveyed the warehouse-turned-abattoir.

"Y-Y-Yes, h-how'd I d-do?" Amelia said as she cleaned the blood off of her face. Gat handed the key to one of the Saints that had come with Kallie. The Saint then took the others and headed for the backroom where the girls were locked up.

"Nice work kid, messy, but nice fucking work" Gat grinned approvingly at Amelia, who couldn't resist smiling back.

"Awwuuugghh" groaned the King that Amelia earlier.

"I-I got y-y-you a p-present, he w-w-was talking about using Aisha's s-sister t-to b-b-blackmail h-her." Gat looked at the King on the ground, then back at Amelia, then back to the King. The predatory smile stretched across his face once more.

"Well, guess I don't need you anymore" Gat said to the pimp he had drug in. The pimp rolled over and cringed, putting his hands up defensively.

"Please, I've got money, I-"

"Cool, I'll take it off your body." Gat blew the man's face away with his shotgun, showering himself, Kallie, and Amelia in a fine red mist. Johnny crouched over the body.

"Ugh, you got blood all over Amelia and me." Kallie said, wiping the blood off of her face with her arm.

"Don't be a bitch Kall, heads up Princess." Johnny stood from the corpse and tossed Amelia the pimp's wallet

"You earned a little extra for this job, 'sides, he don't need it." Gat gestured towards the pimp by kicking him in the leg.

"T-Thanks, y-you might w-want to hurry u-up though, I don't kn-know how l-long it t-takes to b-bleed o-o-out from a s-stomach w-wound, but h-he's been like that f-for a f-few minutes." Amelia pointed at the slowly dying Vice King. Gat's grin got even broader, that of a predator about to strike the killing blow.

"Kid, I think that this is the start of a beautiful motherfucking friendship." Gat moved around Amelia towards the King with the knife in his stomach.

"Come on Baby Girl, the others can wrap things up here." Kallie began to steer Amelia towards the door of the warehouse.

"M-make sure you g-get me, m-my kn-knife b-back" Amelia called out behind her as Kallie led her out.

….

Dex stepped out of his Raycaster into the cool evening air. He'd traded his jean jacket and pants for a black polo, khaki slacks, and a letterman jacket. He checked his jacket to make sure his pistol was still there, and finding it was, started the walk to the entrance of the club. Turbulence was a shithole of a strip club near Wardill Airport, it's location being its main draw, their main clientele usually included pilots looking to get drunk between layovers and international businessmen looking to sample a bit of American liquor and a bit of American pussy, those who chose to partake in the latter usually ended up taking a souvenir back to the homeland, usually an S.T.D. or two. The place's girls were not clean.

Dex shook his head, the though reminded him of Kallika and her whores. What a fucking bitch, Dex thought. And this new girl is no fucking better. Dex had quickly grown to dislike the new girl, for several reasons, not just her association with Kallie.

"Just another College moron hitting up all the clubs in Stilwater." Dex flashed his fake ID to the bouncer, slipping him a twenty for good measure, and slipped into the club. Turbulence had one other thing going for it, it served as one of the major distribution points for the Carnales, and thus why Dex was meeting his contact there. He moved to one of the tables in front of the stage, pulled up a chair, and sat down. The stripper on stage currently was a black woman dressed in a slutty cop outfit. Dex tossed a few ones at the girl, not wanting to look too generous or stingy and draw attention to himself.

"You got the money?" A Hispanic voice next to him said. Dex didn't turn towards the voice or even look in that direction.

"You got the stuff?" Dex laid a wad of twenties on the table.

"Two packs" The source of the voice slid a duffel bag under the table.

"Cool" They both sat there until the end of the song, neither looking at the other. After the song ended, Dex picked up the duffel bag and got up to leave. As he was walking out, he turned to look back at the table, it was empty and the wad of twenties had been taken. Dex made his way out of the club and back to his Raycaster. Dex resisted the urge to open the bag then and there, instead he turned the ignition and drove back to Mission Beach. Once he was back at the church, he went into the storeroom that he used as an office and set the bag on the long counter in the room.

Dex opened the bag, in it were two bricks of white powder. The bricks were made of drywall and were meant to look like cocaine. Dex removed the bricks and pulled out the envelope that had been at the bottom, in it were the locations of two of the Carnales' drug labs. 'Two packs' meant two locations, Dex had established the system early after making contact with his source, he thought it was truly ingenious, if anyone looked or listened too closely, then it would just look like another drug deal. A lot of the other Saints didn't get into the whole cloak and dagger thing, but Dex knew that it was why he was the best intel guy. Dex smiled, this is real intel, not some stupid shit on Twitter that anyone could not notce, this is shit that deserves some real credit, Dex thought. He decided that he would call Troy and have him get a crew together to raid the labs, starting phase one of his plan to take out the Carnales.

"Hey Dex, we're headin' to Tee'N'Ay to have some drinks and play some cards, you down?" Dwayne green stood in the doorway wearing jeans and a purple hoody.

"Tee'N'Ay is in Vice King turf" Dex had better things to do than to brawl with Kings over hookers.

"Not anymore, the Johnny and Kallika took a crew and kicked their asses right out." Dex shook his head, that bitch has to one up me, doesn't she, he thought.

"She or the brat going to be there?" Dex didn't feel like getting his ass beat by Kallie, it pained him greatly to admit that he stood no chance against her in a fight.

"Nah, she's runnin' the kid home and then grabbin' dinner with Lin, says that they have a hell of a night planned." Dwayne sniggered, he could easily picture what those two had planned. What I wouldn't give to be a fly on the wall, he thought.

"Then sure, I could use a drink." I can talk to Troy later, Dex thought. Now, he wanted a victory shot, he was gaining ground on the Carnales, and soon he would be in line for Julius's number two.

"Cool, we're meeting up with Troy and Johnny there." Dwayne turned and walked away from the door. Dex returned the drywall to the bag and tucked the envelope in his pocket, he didn't want anyone to steal credit for his success. He headed for his Raycaster, and fifteen minutes later, he was pulling into a parking spot in front of Tee'N'Ay. Dex could see Johnny's Venom and Troy's Destiny. He walked in, the first thing that he noticed was the bloodstain in the hallway that led into the club. There was a cleaning guy scrubbing it out.

"Sorry sir, we had some excitement earlier today, this neighborhood had a little power change." The cleaning guy stopped his scrubbing for a second and looked up at Dex.

"No problem, has a group of men wearing purple arrived yet?" Dex's tone was superior, an upper class executive speaking with a servant.

"Yes sir, they're at a table in the back." Dex nodded and left the man to his cleaning. He walked through the main area of the club to the poker table in the back where five saints sat, a seat had been left open for him. The Saints were Troy, Johnny, Miguel, Dwayne, and Brian Williams. Brian and Troy were already in the middle of a conversation as Dex took his seat.

"I'm telling you man, this little girl is fucking crazy, she was like that kid in The Ring. She killed all the fucking Kings before we got there, with a knife, a motherfucking knife. She didn't use a gun at all. And then we show up, and she comes walking up, just fucking coated in the Kings' blood, and the first thing she does is tell Kallika that she's sorry for messing up her clothes. That girl is just fucking crazy." Brian took a swig of his beer and shook his head.

"Two" Johnny gave Dex a nod in greeting.

"Huh" Brian looked at Gat, brow furrowed in confusion.

"She used two knives, she used this one to stab one of the kings in the stomach, left him alive for me." Johnny slammed the point of the knife into the table, it stuck. Dex ordered a glass of scotch from a scantily clad waitress.

"Are you guys talking about the brat?" The last thing that Dex wanted to talk about was that brat.

"Don't call her a fuckin' brat man. She earned her colors just like the rest of us." Gat had seen what she could do, she had impressed him. Kid deserves some respect, he thought.

"Ah great, now you're playing her game too, just fucking great." Dex took his scotch from the waitress and took a long drink.

"What's your problem with the kid anyway?" Troy took a drag of his cigarette and looked at Dex.

"My problem is that we're a gang, not the girl scouts, this bedwetting brat get's lucky a few times and was part of some major shit, and everyone treats her like she's a top player because she's a kid." Dex pulled out his wallet and set it on the table, ready to make his bet.

"I agree la nina is too young for this sort of work, but I can attest to her competence." Miguel said, finally contributing to the conversation.

"The kid's not a great shot, but she knows how to fucking handle herself. My arm still fucking hurts." Dwayne rubbed the arm that Amelia had bitten and smashed.

"So she can pull off some martial arts shit, every kid goes to some fifty dollar class and does martial arts these days. Plus, you guys see those weird ass fits she goes into. Do you really want to have to deal with that during a fight? She's a goddamn kid, send her back to third grade where she belongs." Dex couldn't stand it, what does everyone see in this kid?

"Hey, so far, she's only done that after fights. And if she can keep pulling off shit like what she did today, I don't care if she wants to carry a teddy bear into firefights. Hell, I'll buy her the damn bear." Gat laughed, followed by Dwayne and Brian, and then Miguel and Troy. The only one who didn't laugh was Dex.

"Yeah man, I'll give you that. I saw what she did in that warehouse while we were locking down Rebadeaux, and I gotta say, what she pulled off with those knives was some serious special forces shit. You don't learn that at a fifty dollar class, so where'd she get the training to pull it off?" Troy knew it had to be military, but the kid was way too young to have served.

"Fuck it man, I don't feel like talking about this shit anymore, deal the fucking cards" Dex said. Though Troy raised a good question, Dex decided that it was about time he had his contacts look into the brat's backround.

Six hands later, Dex was up by a hundred, Brian had backed out to get a lap dance, Dwayne was down forty, Gat was up by one fifty, and Troy was breaking even. Miguel didn't play, he didn't like to gamble.

"So why'd she leave you one, I heard that you got plenty of Kings while you were here." Troy smacked a fresh pack against his hand to pack the tobacco.

"Well it's the thought that counts, and I'm always up for killing another dumbass yellow mother fucker, full house." Gat laid his cards on the table, eliciting groans from Dwayne and Troy. Gat was a very good poker player, he always looked like he had the winning hand no matter what he had.

"Naturally, but if that was all it was you wouldn't have mentioned it." Troy knew Gat well enough to know what the man considered important enough to mention.

"Alright, so check it out, apparently Princess overheard this guy talking while she was sneaking in. She left him for me since she thought I would be interested in what he had to say." Gat collected his winnings and took the deck, it was his turn to deal.

"So what'd he have to say?" Troy lit his forty-first cigarette of the day.

"Well before I broke my new present, he told me about how Tanya, Tony Green's girl, was fucking around with Warren, King's music guy. So now that Tanya has everyone except King by the dick, she wants to expand her part of the business, as in she wants to pimp out the girls signed to King's record company, plus this whole kidnapping shit. Aisha told 'em to fuck off, so they took Eesh's sister to get her to play fuck toy for 'em." The fury in Gat could be seen easily as he spoke, his eyes blazed and his posture turned predatory.

"Shit man" Troy said, stubbing out his cigarette.

"Fuckin' Kings" Dwayne fingered the pistol in his waistband.

"Vamos a matarlos todos." Miguel slammed his fist into his palm.

"We need to work an angle on this." The wheels in Dex's head were already spinning.

"Oh, don't worry about that pointdexter, I got a plan already worked out." Gat leaned back in his chair, he was proud of his plan. This is gonna be fun, he thought.

"Hold up Johnny, Julius told me to watch you on this. Any plans need to go through me." The last thing that I need is this fucking psycho going on some rampage and fucking up my plans, Dex thought, he was also more than a little pissed at Johnny for using the nickname Kallika had given him, he hated it.

"Bullshit asshole, you aren't in this plan. The only people who need to know this plan are me, Samson, Aisha, Kall, and Princess." Johnny smiled at Dex's gritted teeth, he knew they were on the same team and all, but some people just needed to be knocked down a peg, and he knew that having the kid on board and not Dex would royally piss him off.

"Well fuck you then man, I got my own shit to handle. Troy you and I need to talk after this, I have some traction on the Carnales and I could use some of your crew to back me up." Dex didn't like Johnny talking to him like that, he didn't like anyone talking to him like that, but he knew enough not to pull the man into a fight.

"I have to meet with Julius about the Rollerz, but other than that, yeah, I can back you on that." Troy didn't like Dex's smugness either, but he knew he had to work with the guy, so he tried to be cooperative.

"I can offer my aid, mi amigo. I greatly enjoy hurting those pendejos." Everyone in the Saints knew that Miguel had a personal grudge against the Carnales, but only he and Julius knew what it was, and neither of whom were very forthcoming with the information.

"Cool" Dex was glad to have Miguel involved, he was good at killing and he followed orders to the letter.

"Maybe you should get the kid involved, have her play slice and dice on the Carnales." Johnny rolled up his winnings and slipped a rubber band around the bills, collected Amelia's knife, and stood.

"Last thing we need is some scared little kid to babysit" Dex sneered.

"Whatever man, I'm heading out." Johnny nodded to Dwayne and Miguel.

"Hitting up Aisha tonight" Troy said.

"Later, I have something I need to handle first."

….

Amelia scrubbed hard on her leg, the crusted blood was extremely hard to get out. She had changed immediately after returning to the church. Like Kallie, she had taken to keeping a change of clothes there. But some of the blood had seeped through her clothes and formed a crusty stain on her skin. Which was why she now sat in a hot bath with Linkin Park blaring from her IHome, scrubbing away furiously at her legs. After the warehouse raid, Amelia had spent the day working with Kallie on the prostitution racket, collecting profits, dealing with rival pimps (usually via lead), and working out protection details for the various groups of whores. After several hours of that, Kallie had told her that she had plans with Lin that night and had run Amelia home.

Amelia was finally satisfied that she had gotten all of the blood stains off of her skin. She leaned back in the tub and began to relax, letting herself flow with the music. She loved Linkin Park, she hadn't been allowed to listen to it before she had run away. All she had been allowed when it came to music were the songs that she had been taught to play on the various instruments she had learned to perform with. Amelia liked classical music, but her upbringing had made it leave a bad taste in her mouth.

Amelia then heard a noise outside of her bathroom. Within five seconds she was up, wrapping her bathrobe around herself, her SEAL2000 held in a reverse grip against her forearm. Amelia peeked out of the door, seeing nothing she slipped out and surveyed her apartment. At first she saw nothing out of the ordinary and for a second, she thought that she had imagined the noise, it wouldn't be the first time. Then she noticed it on the coffee table. It was a brown stuffed bear with a purple shirt, a purple baseball hat turned sideways, and a small plastic pistol in its left paw. In front of the bear sat an envelope, on top of which sat her SEAL Pup.

The bear was obviously custom-made, the tag on it said that it came from Stefanie, a high-end toy store in Union Square. Amelia picked up her SEAL Pup and set it aside, then she picked up the envelope. It was a simple manila envelope, it hadn't been sealed and it was labeled simply 'Kid'. Amelia opened the envelope and retrieved the note inside. The note was folded up printer paper and was only a few sentences long.

"The bear's from Aisha, keep it, sell it, burn it, shoot it, blow it up, I don't give a fuck. You did good today kid, without you we wouldn't have found Aisha's sister, and we wouldn't have found out what we did from the guy you left. You earned your right to be called a Saint today, you want a real reward, come talk to me tomorrow, we'll see about making sure everybody knows you're a Saint the second they look at you." The paragraph ended there, but there was still one line above the signature.

"I owe you one kid."

"Signed John T. Gat" Amelia had to giggle, somehow John T. Gat sounded like it couldn't be the same person as Johnny Gat.

"John T. Gat sounds like the name of an investment banker, or maybe an accountant." Amelia let out another giggle, then she tossed off her bathrobe and walked over to her dresser. She quickly slipped on a pair of Stewie pajama pants and an American Dad tee-shirt. Amelia went back to the bear on the coffee table. She wasn't sure how she felt about the fact that Gat had slipped in and out of her apartment before she could even slip out of her bathroom. Amelia shook her head, and checked her door, he had relocked the door when he left.

Amelia grabbed the bear and set it on her dresser, she wondered when she would meet Aisha. She would need to thank the woman for the gift. Though being honest with herself, she knew that if and when she met Aisha, she would probably try to disappear and probably shrink back behind Kallie if she was present.

Amelia went through her bedtime rituals, brushing her teeth, backing up and wiping her hard drive, and stashing her pistol next to her bed. Finally Amelia pulled back the covers on her bed and crawled in, pulling the covers up to her neck. She curled up into a ball, clutching her octopus, and soon she was slipping off into the land of dreams and nightmares.

**So guys, tell me what you think.**

**Review Time,**

**Baby Fawn: Thanks, I'm glad you enjoy my story.**

**Damrhein: Blood shall be spilled, whose blood, I will not say.**


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